


Chika's Bizarre Adventure

by GhostAggron



Category: Love Live! Sunshine!!, ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 | JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken | JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:54:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 13
Words: 33,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22121395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GhostAggron/pseuds/GhostAggron
Summary: A brutal cataclysm sweeps across Japan one late night, sending everyone into a frenzy as violent destruction takes hold across the world. The Aqours crew sets sail to an abandoned observatory out to sea to try and weather the storm, but little do they know that their new strange abilities they've gained as a result of the chaos have also awakened in others who are more than willing to do everything in their power to see to it they never make it back off the island. What purpose could they have for attacking Chika and the rest of Aqours?
Kudos: 28





	1. The Cataclysm

Chapter 1: The Cataclysm

It started in the blink of an eye, like a raging storm. Once peaceful towns became chaotic with rampant destruction, and much to the bafflement of the victims they had no idea what was responsible. To those responsible for the chaos, they had awakened some form of strange abilities that allowed them to wreak havoc across the unfortunate population. Numazu was another unfortunate victim of the carnage. It was just after sundown when the onslaught began, Chika waking to the horrifying sounds of destruction and bloody murder. Sitting up in a panic, she ran to her door only to find a thick smoke and rising flames on the other side. Knowing there was no way through, she ran to her window to see if she could make her escape.  
  
“Chika, jump to me!” Riko called in a panic, standing at her window.

“W-What’s going on!?” Chika asked in a panic.

“I don’t know, but jump quick!”

Chika made her way through Riko’s house, running out the front of the house with Riko. They stared up at the burning inn in horror. Chika noticed that Shiitake was missing from out front, her leash laying on the ground undamaged.

“What the...what the hell is going on!?”

~

They frantically called their friends to make sure everything was alright, and luckily every member of Aqours seemed to be at least physically ok. They quickly met up, doing what they could to dodge the frenzy in the streets. Thankfully, Kanan’s boat was able to take them out to sea and out of harm's way. It was somewhat cloudy, but visibility wasn’t horrible. The group sat in almost total silence as they attempted to process what had just happened. 

“Kanan, what are we going to do when the boat runs out of gas?” Chika asked her worriedly. “We can’t stay out here forever.”

“There’s a small abandoned research observatory a decent way out to sea on an island.” She explained. “We should be able to survive there for at least a week or so until the carnage wears down.”

“Do we even know if it’ll calm down by that point?” Riko asked. “We don’t even know what made all this start to begin with!”

“Perhaps, but we can observe the effects.” Dia explained. “When we were leaving to go help the rest of you, me and Ruby were attacked by a strange girl. She had a strange figure beside her that attempted to hurt me, but I managed to subdue her and make my escape. Ruby however was unable to see it despite appearing right in front of her. That’s how I figured out not everyone has an ability.”

“Wait, doesn’t that mean you have an ability?” Riko asked nervously.

“Yes I do, and I can use it to test which of us have abilities or not.”

Dia held her hand in front of her with her palm facing up. Everyone watched as a purple hand materialized in the same pose right above Dia’s. There was a purple eyeball pattern on the palm of her new ghostly hand.

“If you can see this, you should also have an ability. Raise your hand if you can see it.”

Aside from Ruby, everyone in the back of the ship raised their hands. Everyone looked around at each other tensely, surprised and worried looks on their faces.

Kanan turned her head back towards Dia with a confused look. She was looking at Dia’s hand but seemed puzzled.

“And I’m supposed to be looking at...what?”

“I’ll take that as a no.” Dia concluded, putting her hand down as the manifestation disappeared. “Now that we know you have one, I’d suggest testing out your abilities once we get to the island so you can learn to protect yourselves with them.”

“But...the people who used their abilities became killers, didn’t they?” You asked fearfully. “If we use ours, does that mean we’ll go psycho too?”

“I used my ability to protect Ruby, but I’ve felt no different nor did I need to kill our assailant to escape. If I had to take a guess, a buried primal force is more likely to blame for the outbreak of excessive violence.”

“Are you sure?”  
  
“I can’t say for certain, but none of us have gone psycho despite having abilities. Besides, I have another theory as to why we may have these abilities to begin with. This could just be my imagination, but I think these abilities come as an extension of our own personality, desires and other characteristics. The girl who attacked us had an ability that crackled like fireworks, and she seemed to be acting rashly and sporadic. I was lucky that I was able to incapacitate her before she had the chance to deal any real damage to us.”

“Do you think...we ourselves are reacting to something?” Riko wondered aloud.

“That seems to be my best hypothesis.” Dia agreed. “If we can figure out what our abilities are, perhaps we can use them to protect one another and maybe even work to solve what has caused this mess to begin with.”

“Well don’t test those crazy things on my boat.” Kanan cut in. “If this boat sinks out here, we’re as good as dead.”

“You don’t need to worry, nobody’s actually planning to use them right now.” Riko reassured her. Yoshiko averted her eyes awkwardly.

“Is it going to be safe to use our abilities near each other, zura?” Hanamaru asked. “If we’re not careful, we could end up burning down the building or destroying our supplies.”

“There’s a lot of beach and rocks outside of the building itself, we should have ample room to test out our abilities one at a time.” Kanan suggested. “Oh! Speaking of which, I can see the island on the horizon!”

Everyone turned to look towards the bow of the boat, seeing an island appearing on the horizon. As they got closer, they could see the storm-wrecked remains of a research building sitting atop a small rocky island. It wasn’t very big, but only a few sections closer to the ocean had been knocked down or damaged significantly. Parts of the beach had sand lining the water’s edge, but other parts had rocky outcrops of pointed rocks. The observatory itself spanned a good stretch of the island and had two floors to it.

“I’m surprised that they’d abandon such a big building.” You said in surprise. “I had no idea this was even out here!”

“It was mostly a secret among various researchers.” Kanan explained. “The observatory won’t even appear on most maps, it would just be shown as a tiny little rock in the middle of nowhere. The secret was so well kept that not even I know what the place used to be called.”

“Now I’m curious how they got the funds for it, zura.” Hanamaru commented.

“It was government funded most likely.” Kanan guessed. “It’s possible the center was used to monitor the populations of marine life, or maybe even warn of tsunamis. I can’t tell for certain until we get inside.”

As the boat made landfall, Kanan motioned to You. 

“Hey, can you jump out and help tie up the boat?”

You nodded, leaping over the side and landing with a soft splash in the ankle-deep water. Kanan threw her a rope, and she tied the boat to a nearby post near the water.

“For a government funded location, you’d think they’d at least have a dock.” You critiqued as she wiped her brow.

Once they secured the boat completely, the group got out onto the beach and looked up at the building. A faint glimmer of moonlight bounced off the reflective roof, the building casting a shadow over the rocks. The girls took in their surroundings as they headed to the front entrance. The front door was locked, a big steel door blocking their path. Dia attempted to open it, but it wouldn’t budge.

“Well great, what now?” Kanan asked. “How are we supposed to get in? It’s not like we can-”

The group jumped in surprise as the door was sent flying in, falling to the floor inside with a crash. A strong aura seemed to surround Dia, dissipating as she relaxed her stance. 

“Let that be an example of how powerful your abilities could be.” Dia instructed. “Now let’s get inside and see if we can find any supplies.”

They all stood there silently in shock.

_“She was able to bash down a door…”_ Chika thought in astoundment. _“No wonder she was able to knock out that other girl...what kind of superhuman strength do we have!?”_

“Pii!” Ruby squeaked as a raindrop hit the top of her head. Kanan put out her hand and began to feel raindrops splat down onto it.

“Let’s get inside before it starts raining.” she said as she looked to the sky. I think it was supposed to pour later tonight.”

* * *

Most of the equipment had been taken by previous owners, but there were still surprising amounts of rations stored in containers in the basement. There wasn’t any real connection to the mainland or electrical grids, but there was also a backup generator nearby that could power a few necessities upstairs. 

“Do you think we could get the lights working?” Riko asked.

“With how decayed some parts of the building are, I doubt it’d be safe.” Dia explained. “The wood could easily catch fire, and if the gas tanks in the basement got enveloped by flames...well, we’d be blown to bits.”

“That’s a bit graphic, but you’re not wrong.” Riko said nervously.

“Thankfully we don’t have to worry about heating up food since the rations are made to last. It looks like we have a surprising amount of rations here, so we should be able to stay here for about two to three weeks. There’s also plenty of clean water for us to drink from the filtration system upstairs, so once Mari is done fixing that up we should be able to have plenty of clean drinking water.” 

“Should we start passing out the rations? Not to get pushy but I’m kind of hungry.” 

“Sure, make sure everyone gets one each.” Dia said as she handed Riko a few packs. 

“I’ll give a pack to Chika.” You offered.

“Sure, you can tell her we’ll have the purifier up and running soon.”

You nodded as she headed back upstairs to the others. Seeing the first years standing around with one another, she walked up to them.

“Hey, where’s Chika?” she asked.

“She headed over towards the ruined section of the building, zura.” Hanamaru said as she pointed down the hall. “I wonder what she’s doing?”

“Isn’t she going to get wet?” Yoshiko questioned. “The rain is going to get her soaked.”

“She seemed really stressed for most of the ride here.” Ruby said worriedly. “Maybe you should go talk to her.”

“Ok, I’ll go see what’s up.” You said as she jogged in the direction Hanamaru had pointed in. As she made her way around a few corners, she came to a massive hole in the building which appeared to have been cleared of the rubble. Chika stood staring out into the rain with a vacant expression, her hair fluttering lightly in the gentle breeze.

“Chika-chan, I brought you some food to eat.” You said, making Chika turn her head in surprise.

“Oh, hey.”

You handed the small package to her.

“Here, you should probably eat.”

“Thanks but...I’m not hungry.”

“You alright?” You asked in a worried tone.

Chika remained quiet for a moment, walking slowly over to the edge of the shattered wall and putting her hand against it.

“Do you think they’re ok? My family?”

“I…” You started, unsure of how to reply.

“To think that so many people must’ve lost family members...friends...it’s just horrible. I don’t know what made this all start, but I want to do everything I can to put an end to this madness.”

“...”

“I dream of a day that we can be free of this madness and live again...where we can enjoy delicious mikans together with one another and bring happiness to the people who’ve suffered from this chaos. I swear that I’ll be the one to put a stop to it, no matter what.”

As Chika finished her sentence, a figure began to manifest beside her. As it came into full form, You noticed it had a mikan-like head with a striped face that resembled one that had been peeled. Stripes ran down the length of her arms with green shamrocks present on the top of its fists. The body mostly consisted of what looked like a more armored version of the peeled-mikan head. Chika and her ability flared to life with aura.

“That’s why I’ve decided to name my ability **Tangerine Dream**. We’ll end this crisis together, I swear it.”

* * *

Amidst a thick fog, several figures stood on the large deck of a ship. The fog was incredibly thick, but the figures there knew where each other were as they cornered a girl near the front of the ship.

“W-What are you going to do with me?” The girl stammered nervously.

“You have...some use to us. We have a mission for you, and if you succeed we will let you go free. Both you and your friend.”

“How do I know you’re not trying to trick me?” The girl said defensively.

“If we wanted you dead, we would’ve killed you right where you stood.” Another girl remarked. “But we can’t afford to risk harm to ourselves, which is where you come in.”

The cornered girl swallowed nervously.

“There’s a few girls out here that managed to get out to sea and evade most of the mayhem.” A third girl commented. “Kill as many of them as you can, and if you survive long enough to kill them all…”

“Y-Yeah, I understand. It’s just...I’ve...never killed someone before.”

“I care a lot less about your ability to make clean kills, it won’t matter much if they can’t even see where you are.”

“B-But...how am I supposed to kill them?”

One of the girls in the fog tossed her a sharp knife that she fumbled in her hands. She yelped a bit as the blade bumped against her finger, falling from her hands. It stopped mid-fall as a white ghostly hand appeared and grabbed it before it hit the ground. 

“It might not be strong, but you seem to be precise enough with your ability. If you can stab all the vital arteries in their necks, you should be able to quickly finish them off.”

She stood up straight as a ghostly white figure appeared behind her. It had no mouth, but it let out a sound like the soft hiss of steam.

“Besides, your **Obscured By Clouds** is the perfect ability for this job.”

* * *

Author’s Note:

For info’s sake, I have already thought out the entire plot of this story as well as every stand within down to even very minute details. All of the musical references within are also ones that Jojo has not specifically used before in any official story, Purple Haze Feedback included. They will also primarily not be references to Love Live songs, but rather references to similar music genres that Hirohiko Araki himself draws from for the most part. Although I will not explicitly tell the reader what these references are, I will make a playlist on my YouTube channel called “Ghost Valkyrie” that will have the musical references in order under the name “CBA Musical References” if you’re finding it hard to find the original song. However, I’d otherwise suggest searching up the songs for yourself of your own free will if you desire too. I feel that way makes it feel like a more genuine jojo experience, dare I say a golden experience.


	2. Obscured By Clouds - Pa

Chapter 2: Obscured By Clouds - Part 1

The group slept in a few old bedrooms closer to the middle of the building. They were separated into rooms of 3 each, designating each bedroom for each grade year. In the second year’s room, Chika laid staring at the wall. She wasn’t uncomfortable, but she couldn’t sleep. No matter how tired she was, sleep refused to come to her. She rolled onto her back and exhaled through her nose. 

“Can’t sleep?” You asked softly. 

Chika turned her head towards her and nodded.

“I’m just wondering what we’re going to do to pass the time, what we’ll do when we have to leave, just a whole mess of thoughts.”

“Yeah, it’s a miracle Riko was able to sleep.”

“I’m just so disoriented...I’ve hardly had the time to consider what our abilities could be, let alone what’s going to happen to us.”

The room fell into silence for a little while, the two of them staring off into space.

“Hey...Chika?”

“Yeah?”

“What abilities do you think we have?”

“I know Dia said that our powers were probably based on our personalities. I can only begin to guess what everyone else’s powers could be.”

“Do you have any idea what yours does?”

Chika sat up and flexed her arm, **Tangerine Dream** ’s arm appearing beside hers in the same pose.

“I haven’t gotten the chance to test it out, but I doubt sheer force would be the only ability. You remember the purple eye on Dia’s hand? It doesn’t seem likely to just correlate with brute force.”

“Dia’s never been one to just jump on ideas. I guess we’ll have to ask her another time.”

“Do you know your ability, You?”

“Not a clue. I had no idea I even had such a thing until Dia said I did.”

“Do you want to go to the open end of the hall and see if you can test it out?”

“I’m sure a little practice wouldn’t hurt.”

The two got up, leaving Riko to sleep as they walked out of their room. The halls were quiet as they made their way towards the broken wall. You shivered as she rubbed her arms with her hands.

“What I wouldn’t give for some heating…”

“Maybe you’ll have some ability to warm up.” Chika encouraged. 

Turning the corner towards the hole in the wall, they noticed a thick fog had settled and rolled into the building. The two stopped to look at the strange phenomenon with puzzled looks.

“Is...fog supposed to do that?” You asked warily.

“If there was a wall there, no.”

“I dunno, it looks awfully thick.”

They noticed the fog was slowly rolling towards them, enveloping the island in an expanse of fog. It was way too thick to see through properly, so the two girls backed up slowly. 

“I think we should get back to bed.” You said nervously. “Something about this fog is rubbing me the wrong way. I’ve never seen fog this blinding before.”

“Wait, you’re not telling me you think this is another person’s ability?” Chika asked. “We’re out in the middle of nowhere, it’s not like someone can accidentally stumble across this place.” 

“Could this be one of our abilities?” You wondered aloud. “It’s definitely not either of ours.”

“Yeah, I don’t feel any aura from anyone nearby. Still...I feel a bit uneasy.”

“Let’s get back to our rooms, quick!” You said, grabbing Chika’s hand as they ran back down the hall. “If it’s just a thick fog bank, staying in our rooms should help keep out most of it.”

As they ran back around the corner, they noticed the fog back approaching them from the way they came from as well. 

“Looks like we’re going to have to make our way through.” Chika said, grabbing You’s hand. “Hold my hand so we can stick together.”

You nodded, holding hands as they cautiously walked into the fog. Chika squinted her eyes as the fog passed by her. The air around her was damp with condensation, a cool sensation running all over her body. 

“Chika, can you see me?” You asked fearfully.

Turning to her, Chika saw nothing but the white of fog around her. She couldn’t even see her shoulder or any part of herself. 

“I can’t see you, but I can hear you!” She responded. “Any idea how far down our rooms were?”

“I’ve got no idea.” You responded, her tone growing more fearful.

She could feel You’s hand shaking in her own, gripping hers tight. 

“H-Hey, you’re gripping my hand kind of hard…” Chika said.

“I’m just...kinda nervous right now.” You replied.

“Ow! Hey, you’re gripping really hard!”

“Oh, sorry, sorry! I think I’m getting too stressed out.”

“Just relax, we’re gonna be fine.”

“Maybe I’m just hearing things.”  
  
“Huh?”

“What, you don’t hear that? Quiet down for a second.”

The two stayed quiet as the light sound of rain filled their ears. Somewhere amongst the silence came a quiet creaking down the hall coming from the direction of the hole. Chika felt another painful grip as You held her hand tight once again.

“Ow, hey! Would you quit grasping so hard?” Chika said quietly. 

“Chika, we have to run.” You said with rising panic in her voice.

The quiet footsteps started to increase in pace as they got closer to the two of them, turning into what sounded like a full speed dash.

“Run, now!” You said in fear as she dragged Chika with her down the hallway. The two of them ran down the hall as the quick footsteps chased close behind. Chika turned her head around, but she still couldn’t see anything.

“This has to be an ability!” Chika panicked.

“Thanks, I couldn’t tell!” You said sarcastically as they kept on running. Suddenly, they stopped with a bang as they collided into a wall. You fell to the floor with her hand on her nose.

“Ow, ow, ow…”

“You, look out!” Chika said frantically as the footsteps got within a few meters of them. The two of them widened their eyes in fear as the sharp sound of metal rang through the air.

“She has a knife!” You called fearfully. “Chika, run for it!” 

The figure took a few quick steps forward as they lunged at the two girls.

“Chikaaa!!!!”

Chika stood up and hardened her look. Her aura flared to life as she summoned her ability.

“ **Tangerine Dream**!”

**Tangerine Dream** launched a fist at the figure, colliding with their chest with a single powerful punch. The girl yelped in pain as she was knocked back, crashing to the floor a good distance away. 

“Yes! You got her!” You shouted victoriously.

“No, it’s not over.” Chika cautioned.

The sound of the girl grunting as she stood up came down the hall. The two stayed put quietly, hearing her catch her breath.

“So you two also have stands, huh?” The girl said menacingly. “I’ll have to be more careful about how I’ll kill you two.”

“Wait, why are you trying to kill us?” You protested. “We don’t want to hurt anyone!”

“Oh?” The girl said, unconvinced. “And why should I believe you? Every other girl I’ve seen with a stand has acted like a savage! I will not and cannot under any circumstances allow any of you to live.”

“A...stand?”

“Don’t play dumb. You just used it to attack me, not to mention you thought one punch was enough to take me out. I’m not sure what kind of abilities you two have, but I’m going to make sure you never get the chance to use them.”

The girl’s footsteps faded as she walked away from them quietly. The fog remained, but the building was once again shrouded in silence.

“You alright?” Chika asked You.

“Yeah, but we’ve gotta keep our guard up. If she’s attempting to sneak around, we should still be able to hear her and retaliate.”

Chika stood silent for a moment.

“Chika?”

“Our abilities...she called them stands, right?” Chika contemplated. “If these have some sort of terminology, that name must’ve come from somewhere.”

“I doubt this is a random attack either.” You said with dread in her voice. “If she wants us dead, she wants us dead for a reason.” 

“To think even a remote island isn’t safe from harm…”

“We can worry about that later!” You said, snapping her back to attention. “For now, we have to figure out what to do about her! She’s going to try killing us, and most likely our friends too. Do you think we have to...kill her?”

Chika put her hand to her forehead as she took a moment to process the question. 

_“Is there really no alternative?”_ Chika thought fearfully. _“Do I really have to kill someone?”_

“No, I can’t do that.” Chika said finally with a shake of her head. “I’ll see if I can incapacitate her, but I’ll still have to fight with every bit of strength I have. I don’t want to kill her, but I refuse to risk letting my friends die.”

“Let’s go after her then!” You said as she grabbed Chika’s hand again. “Just walk carefully this time so we don’t crash into things.”

Chika nodded as they walked back down the hall. You dragged her fingertips along the wall to help guide herself, keeping an ear open for any noises. They turned around a corner, pausing momentarily to listen for noises. 

_“Hisssssssss….”_

“Chika, do you hear that?” You whispered. “There’s something down the hall. Be careful!”

The sound didn’t seem to be moving, so they inched closer. They stopped about a couple meters away from it, listening around the area near them.

“This has to be a trap.” You deduced warily. “Step back, we can only guess what she- ”

You suddenly squealed in pain, the sound of a knife falling to the floor near her feet following after.

“A knife just hit my chest!” You said in pain. “It seems she’s strong enough to throw them, but doesn’t have the greatest aim. I should be grateful, a little higher and that could’ve hit my neck!”

Chika quickly sent **Tangerine Dream** out to attack whatever was making the noise, resulting in the sound of a large metal object hitting the ground.

“It’s an air tank!” Chika said as she ran back with You around the corner. 

“That was careless.” You scolded herself. “Chika, put an arm in front of your neck. If a knife pierces your neck, you’re done for!”

“O-Ok!”

The two of them retreated back around the corner out of the range of the attacks, waiting for an opportunity to strike. As Chika listened, she noticed You was breathing heavily. 

“You, are you alright?”

“I just feel exhausted right now. I can tell I’m bleeding, but I don’t have anything that I can put on it. If I knew what my ability was, I’d lend you a hand. Sorry I’m not being much help.”

Thinking about it herself, Chika realized that she also was feeling a bit lightheaded.

“Trying to fight in this state is awful...but she must be tired too.” Chika deduced.

“So we need to find the right moment for her to slip up and take advantage of it?”

“Exactly. We know she can set simple traps, but she seems awfully reluctant to approach us. If I can get within range, **Tangerine Dream** should be able to defeat her.”

“Wait, hold on a moment. Where did she get that air tank?”

“I think there were a few downstairs in the basement. If she managed to find that, then we should be careful of other objects she could be making use of.”

“Wait, if she was in the basement…” You thought aloud fearfully. “...Chika! The food!”

* * *

Stand User: ???  
Stand Name: **Obscured By Clouds**

Stand Stats:

Strength - C | Speed - B | Range - A | Durability - C | Precision - B | Potential - D

Ability:

Makes a dense fog around the user in a 100 meter radius. Only the user can see clearly through the fog. The fog itself has no damaging properties but it can moisten the air within range.


	3. Obscured By Clouds - Part

Chapter 3: Obscured By Clouds - Part 2

Riko woke up to find a thick mist blinding her eyes. She sat up in bed, blinking twice with a groggy groan. Looking around, she realized she couldn’t see anything and began to panic.   
  
“W-What’s happening!? Chika? You? Are you there!?”

“Quiet, you don’t want to alert her of your presence!”

Riko stumbled back and bumped into the wall behind her in surprise, gasping audibly.

“W-Who are you!?” She asked fearfully.

“Didn’t I just tell you to quiet down?” The voice repeated. “We’re under attack right now. Sadly, I can’t do much about an ability like this. I’d suggest waiting it out until she’s gone or defeated.”

“Is this some sort of crazy dream?” Riko asked herself, holding her hand against her forehead. “This is too much information to process right after getting up. Are you sure we’re under attack?”

“Come on, just look at the air around you.” The voice ridiculed. “What kind of fog just enters bedrooms like this and blinds people?”

“But where’s Chika and You?” Riko asked. “Are they asleep?”

“I’m checking their beds right now, but I don’t feel anything. They’re still somewhat warm, so they must’ve only gotten up recently.” 

“Are they in danger?” Riko asked worriedly. “I have to help them!”

“Not right now you can’t.” The voice instructed. “If we’re going to work together we need to do things rationally.”

“Work with you?” Riko asked skeptically. “I don’t even know who you are!”

“You haven’t figured it out yet?” The voice replied. “I am you.”

“You’re...what? Wait, you don’t mean to tell me you’re my-”

“Ability?”

* * *

Chika and You stumbled around through the fog once more, walking slowly to avoid crashing into walls. 

“If I’m correct, the door to the basement should be right around here somewhere.” You speculated as she dragged the tips of her fingers along the wall. “Be careful though, the fact we haven’t heard a thing in a while from her probably means she’s set up a trap for us.”

Suddenly, You stopped.

“Did you find something?” Chika asked.

“I found some sort of door frame...I think.” You said cautiously. “Yeah, I can feel a door handle.. Be careful, we don’t know what’s on the other side.”

You slipped her hand through the crack in the door and back out before stepping inside. As she moved her foot forward, she felt a drop under the front of her shoe.

“I was right, this is the basement.” You confirmed. “Watch your step.”

“I think ‘feel your step’ would make more sense in this case.”

The two descended the staircase cautiously, the only sounds being the vague sound of rain and the creaking under their feet of the wooden stairs. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, the two of them cautiously approached where they believed the food had been stored. You felt around, finding the box that contained the food. Reaching her hand in, she felt the familiar crinkle of the rations in their packages.

“It looks like our food supplies are fine, but we don’t know if she knew about them.” You said cautiously. “Let’s get out of here, this room is giving me a bad feeling.”

“Wait, I think we can use this to our advantage.” Chika objected. “There’s only one entrance and only one exit. If she tries coming after us, we’ll know for sure that she’ll be there.”

“You’ve got a point. Let’s make sure that the room is secure first though.” You suggested. The two kept close to each other and cautiously felt along the walls and boxes that lined the room. Chika shivered as she felt the cold of the metal.

“What kind of a building has a metal basement but a mostly wooden exterior?” She asked aloud. “It’s a wonder they would even be able to put a concrete floor on an island like this.”

“Whatever the case, the surroundings are echoing noise quite a bit more.” You added. “That could work in our favor if they try to sneak up on us.”

“I think we’ve about surveyed the whole room already.” Chika concluded. “Thankfully the room is so small it’s not hard to search it for-”

Chika paused at the sound of an object hitting a wall on the other end of the room. It didn’t sound like a knife but the sound was hard to determine. 

“Crap! That has to be her!” You exclaimed. 

“You’re not getting away this time!” Chika yelled as she punched at the area where the noise came from. Her punch only resulted in a loud echoing thunk as it collided with the metal. 

“Where’d she go!?” Chika said as she backed up against the wall. 

The room was dead silent. Chika put a hand in front of her throat, sliding along the wall as her shoes scraped against the floor.

“I’ll move back to you.” Chika instructed. “Don’t move so she can’t attack you up close.” 

You nodded to herself as she set up her hands in a defensive position around her neck and heart. She stretched her arm to cover as much as she could, which to her surprise felt unnaturally long. There was a chilling silence in the room for several moments, only to be abruptly ended with the sound of something similar to the first noise hitting the floor behind You.

“You, move to the side!” Chika said as she rushed towards her. Hearing the sound of You stepping out of the way, Chika lunged forward ready to attack. As You stepped back, she suddenly felt a pair of hands on her back. With one of her legs off the ground, she was shoved off balance and pushed back forward. You yelped in surprise but it was too late.  **Tangerine Dream** ’s fist collided with her chest and launched her full force into a wall with a loud crash.

“Y-You!!!” Chika yelled in shock. Quickly trying to react, she flung her fists around in the area all around her, bashing against walls with powerful blows. Eventually she stopped, standing and panting.

_ “Crap...I’m draining all my energy. I can’t keep exhausting myself with random attacks or she’ll surely kill us. I must’ve lost her in all the noise, but how did she get so close to us without us hearing?” _

Walking quietly over towards You, she put her hands onto her to make sure she was ok. She started to panic when You didn’t move, but felt a bit relieved when she felt a pulse from her wrist.

_ “Thank goodness...he’s just unconscious. I’ll have to keep her safe, somehow.” _

Chika tried picking her up, but she didn’t have the physical strength to pick her up. 

_ “What am I supposed to do? If I abandon You, she’ll be killed for sure! If I stay here though, she’ll try to kill me first!” _

She listened hard, but not a single sound was coming from anywhere.

_ “She has to be keeping silent somehow! Think Chika, think!” _

Remembering the object had been thrown close by, Chika quickly made a sweep of the ground near where she had stood a minute ago, touching an object with her fingers. Picking it up and feeling it, she threw it between her and You to discourage any attempts to advance at her.

_ “I get it now...that was her shoes she was throwing! She was using her socks to walk on the concrete while avoiding making noise! If she’s going to try avoiding noise…” _

Chika put her hand into the box of rations and tipped it over onto the floor.

_ “...then I’ll keep her from being able to keep silent!” _

As Chika began to drag You behind her, she slid them along the floor and kicked them along and beside her.

_ “If she tries getting close, I’ll be able to tell where she’s walking by the sound of the packets moving along the ground or crunching underfoot. If she gets too close, I’ll be able to tell where she is and counterattack!” _

Chika slowly but surely made her way across the basement floor until one of the rations hit wood. Chika began to pull You up the stairs as quickly as she could, expecting a pair of footsteps to follow close behind stomping all over the crinkly wrapping that surrounded the rations. After stopping at the top of the stairs and pulling You out of range, Chika stuck to the wall near the doorway like glue and listened in. At first all she heard was the sound of the rations being pushed aside, but then it faded back to silence. Chika stood with a fist clenched, ready to pummel her the second she tried to walk up the stairs. 

“What’s wrong?” She mocked. “I’ve figured you all out and suddenly you’re too scared to approach me?”

There was a sound of wood creaking from below. Chika readied herself, only to pause in confusion at the origin of the sound.

_ “It sounds like wood creaking...but something’s not right. It’s not coming from the staircase...more accurately, it’s coming from beside it!” _

The bizarre creaking continued, rising up beside the door frame on the opposite side of her.

_ “I want to stay here and wait for her, but something’s definitely wrong. Whatever is creaking, it’s definitely not the stairs.” _

Something touched the door, pushing it lightly aside with a quiet squeak.

“Don’t play games with me!” Chika called as she threw a punch at the creaking sounds. Her fists hit against something strange climbing along the walls, sounding and feeling like she had hit a tree branch. 

_ “W-What the-!?”  _

Reacting quickly, she grabbed You and dragged her as fast as she could away from the doorway. There was a gradual sound of wood creaking faster back from the doorway, only to suddenly fade back into silence. Chika rested You against the wall and sat down panting.

_ “I have to conserve the last of my energy. Now that we’re back on ground level, at least I’ll be able to hear her coming. I just need to calm down and stay awake.” _

An approaching sound of footsteps put her on high alert. They approached cautiously, making Chika pull You onto the other side of her and out of harm’s way. She stood up with her fists in front of her for protection, focusing intently on the approaching noise.

_ “I don’t have the energy to waste on random assaults. Every attempt I’ve made beforehand she’s manipulated me into wasting my energy. I have to wait for the perfect moment to strike!” _

The footsteps made their way closer and closer to her until they stopped just a short distance from her. She hardened her gaze as she waited for the moment the girl would strike. The air was still, not a sound from either of the girls disturbing the intense silence. Finally, the silence was broken as Chika felt a heavy object collide with her head. Chika let out a pained gasp of surprise as she was knocked onto her back, clutching her face in her hands in pain. Before she could react accordingly, she felt something almost like rope wrap around her body. It tied her hands to her face, leaving her neck completely open and vulnerable.

“I’ve got her tied up!” Came a second girl’s voice. “Now’s your chance, Fumiko!”

The other girl raced at her, a slicing of metal in the air as she rushed at Chika.

“You’re not getting away this time!  **Obscured By Clouds** , slit her throat!”

Right before the girl’s ability striked, there was a whirr of noise behind the two of them and a sudden glow of light. 

“I have to thank you for luring us into the basement. Your ability may have prevented me from seeing, but to evade it I had to focus on my other senses. When I was attacking the metal walls, I could sense my ability reacting to the vibrations after I hit them. That’s when I realized I had a secret weapon I could use against you that even you didn’t think about. The electric generator! Thanks to you, I’ve figured out I can absorb the energy from my surroundings! That is my  **Tangerine Dream** ’s ability!”

With startling speed, the girl was pushed back from Chika and gripped around the throat by  **Tangerine Dream** . The ability slowly made a fist, the entire arm of the stand glowing a vibrant orange with absorbed power.

**_“GAOOOOOOOAH!!! GAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAHHH!!!”_ **

With a powerful barrage of punches, the girl was launched down the hall and into a wall with a powerful crash. 

“H-Hideko!!!” The girl near Chika said fearfully as she unravelled herself from Chika’s body and began running in the direction the girl went flying. Chika blinked in surprise as she realized the fog around her was fading. Soon, nothing but the small area around the girl named Hideko was immersed in fog, which dissipated to reveal her lifeless body slumped against the wall. Her eyes were still open, but they stared lifelessly at the ground. Chika's eyes began to widen in horror as she realized what she had done.

“Oh gods...”

The other girl ran up to Hideko’s side, gripping her shoulders as she lightly sobbed into her chest. She turned her head around and glared daggers at Chika before screaming at her.

“YOU MONSTER!!!”

“I wouldn’t be attacking you if you hadn’t attacked us!” Chika yelled back. “You tried to kill me and my friends!”

“I didn’t have a choice!” The girl screamed back. “Why is all of this madness happening!? I just want to go home! I just want to…”

The girl cut herself off, wiping her tears away. 

“There’s no way I can kill you all...if I’m going to die I’ll take you monsters down with me!”

The girl suddenly began to transform her hands and arms into long vines with flowers growing out of the sides. She stuck them out the window and began to push herself out and up from the window.

“ **Bed Of Roses** , let’s make these murderers pay for the blood they’ve spilled!”

Chika watched her climb out of sight, falling to her knees with a blank stare.

“I’m a murderer...oh gods, I’m a murderer…”

“Chika! You!”

Chika snapped back to attention as she heard a voice from behind her.

“Riko! What are you doing up!? We’re under attack!”

“I take it that blinding fog was the work of an ability?”

“It was...hers.” Chika pointed with a vocal tremble. Riko gasped as she saw Hideko’s body lying against the wall. 

“Chika, did you…!?”

Chika nodded wordlessly, her face alone giving her all the context she needed. 

“I heard another voice coming from here, is there someone else too?”

“Y-Yeah, I think I heard her say that her ability was called “ **Bed of Roses** .” At a glance, it seems like she can transform parts of her body into plant life.”

“We need to stop her before she kills our friends, but...that would require killing her too.”

Chika remained silent.

“Is she alright?” Riko asked, looking at You in surprise.

“You is just unconscious. Unfortunately I got tricked into attacking her in the fog, so she’s out cold for the time being. I’d love to chase after that girl, but her safety comes first.”

“Actually, I think we can do both at the same time.” Riko suggested with a smirk.

Chika jumped in surprise as something zoomed past her head and out the window after the other girl. Riko’s body began to flare with aura as what looked like a printer appeared in front of her floating in midair. 

“ **Telegraph Road** , after her!”

* * *

Stand User: Chika Takami   
Stand Name:  **Tangerine Dream**

Stand Stats:

Stats: Strength - A | Speed - A | Range - D | Durability - C | Precision - B | Potential - C

Ability:

Absorbs energy from its surroundings to use to power itself up and unleash extremely powerful punches at immense speed. Close range of 5 Meters.


	4. Bed of Roses

Chapter 4: Bed of Roses

The printer floating in front of Riko whirred as a piece of paper emerged from the top of it. Riko read the paper and nodded to Chika.

“She’s not looking to attack us just yet. Let’s get You back to the bedroom while we can.”

“Mmm.”

Riko looked at Chika with a worried expression crossing her face. Chika grabbed You and hurried back towards the bedrooms. 

“I assume your ability is keeping track of her location?”

“Yeah, I only just found out about it, but I have a two part locating ability.  **Telegraph Road** is the main part you can see here.”

Turning the printer towards Chika, she noticed that words had been printed on the stand. 

**_“Hideko climbs up the wall transformed as vines. She stays hidden outside as she struggles to figure out what to do.”_ **

“It sounds like she’s pretty disoriented right now.” Riko commented. “We should take this opportunity to get You to safety and finish her off.”

“Riko, do you understand what you’re saying? Finish her off? We’re not going to be able to capture her, if we want to stop her we have to kill her!”

“And if we don’t stop her, she’ll kill our friends! This is self-defense, Chika!”

“I’m sorry but I can’t look at it that way. I killed her friend. I’m a murderer. Oh gods, I’m a murderer…”   
  
“Chika…”

“Fine, let’s get You to safety. Just don’t ask me to kill her, because I refuse.”

Riko nodded reluctantly. 

_ “I don’t want to kill her either. I’ll try my best just to incapacitate or reason with her, but I can’t make any promises.” _

* * *

With You safely put in her bed, the two of them traveled up to the second floor where Hideko was hiding. They walked slowly and cautiously, Riko keeping an eye on  **Telegraph Road** for insight into the girl’s location. 

**_“Hideko climbs in a window, sliding up against the corner just down the hall from Riko and Chika.”_ **

Riko signalled for Chika to quiet down, showing her the passage. Chika nodded, moving up against the adjacent wall with the windows. Chika couldn’t see the girl, but a vague shadow was partially visible on the floor. 

_ “That’s her!”  _ Chika thought to herself,  _ “But now what? I can’t just kill her. How are we-” _

“Don’t act like we can’t see each other.” Hideko said aloud, revealing herself against the corner of the wall. “You can lie to yourself, but your goal is clear. Either you kill me, or I kill you.”

“Why couldn’t you have tried to make peace?” Riko argued. “We wouldn’t have attacked your friend if you never attacked us.”

“You think we had a choice!?” She spit aggressively. “We were sent here to kill you all against our will, not because we wanted to!”

“W-What?” Chika said in surprise under her breath. “But why?”

“Like hell if I know! I don’t care anymore, everything I ever loved has been taken from me! My family, Mika, and now Fumiko!”

“Mika?”

“I might as well tell you before I kill you. She was a friend of mine. Mika, Fumiko and I used to hang out all the time. The night our stands manifested however, we came under assault by some mysterious force. Blood filled the streets and the air erupted with gunfire.”

“G-Gunfire!? But guns are illegal in Japan!”

“I know that! It was no military, but whatever it was it wasn’t there to protect us. Mika had an ability of her own, but she...she died protecting us from the gunfire. She used her ability as a living shield, told us to make a run for it. I barely had the time to look behind me and watch her fall dead to the ground. I know I won’t survive this encounter, but I’m telling you now there’s no place to run. One way or another, whoever it was who ordered that destruction has to be a stand user. It was like...the guns had a mind of their own.”

“Do you think the user responsible was the leader behind whoever wants us dead?”

“Maybe. Not like I care anymore. I’ve already accepted my fate.”

Suddenly, roots erupted from the floorboards and tangled around their feet and lower legs.

“Perhaps it’s about time you two started accepting yours.”

_ “Crap! She was stalling for time!” _ Chika realized.

“Sorry Chika, I was so focused on the story I didn’t think to ask  **Telegraph Road** for another reading.” Riko apologized. 

Chika tried punching at the floor with  **Tangerine Dream** , breaking the floorboards but failing to do any real damage to the roots underneath. They started to weave up her legs, constricting tightly around her ankles.

“Nice try, but I’ve woven my roots together! They can withstand the strength of your punches, like a big shock absorber!”

Chika tried to pry the roots from her legs, but they were strangled so tightly around her foot that she couldn’t pull or cut them off. 

“It’s no use...Riko! See if  **Telegraph Road** can help us!”

Riko nodded, the floating printer whirring to life once again.

**_“Hideko moves towards the floor, allowing her legs to continue to crawl under and over to Riko and Chika.”_ **

_ “So her legs are turning into the roots? That must’ve been what she was doing earlier with those creaking sounds in the basement. Seems like her stand has a much larger range than either of ours, the only way I’ll be able to beat her is by getting closer!” _

Chika tried once again to barrage the wooden floor and roots underneath, once again bouncing off the tangled roots ineffectively. Hideko smirked, allowing the vines to crawl further up their legs. 

“Are you even listening? You can’t punch through those vines!” 

“Maybe not…” Chika said, grabbing a splintered piece of wood with her stand. “But that’s not all I can do!”

**Tangerine Dream** quickly sliced through the vines underneath, causing them to bleed profusely. Hideko shrieked from the pain, retracting the vines as the other bits reformed into a severed foot at her feet. Chika jumped back at the sight of it, her face completely white. 

“Chika, keep it together!” Riko tried to reassure her. “Please calm down!”

Chika’s eyes were too focused in horror on the foot to hear Riko properly. Riko reached out her hand and shook Chika back to reality with her hand.   
  
“Chika!” 

“Riko, I can’t do this! You can’t expect me to intentionally kill someone!” 

“Do you think I want to either!?” Riko snapped back. “If we don’t stop her, she’ll-”

Turning back towards the corner, she realized Hideko was no longer there.

“Crap!  **Telegraph Roa** -”

Riko stopped mid sentence as more vines crawled up out of the floor and around her. They tied themselves quickly around her, preventing her from moving. Hideko’s face rose up on the opposite side of Riko, glaring ferociously. 

“ **Tangerine Dream** ! Cut Riko out of the vines!”

“Chika, wait! You’ll hurt me too!” Riko exclaimed.

Chika stopped her attack and reluctantly pulled back her stand. 

“Even if I turn into plant growth, I still feel the damage dealt against them. I hope you realize cutting off my foot hurts like all hell!”

Roots rose up from the floor once again, wrapping again around Chika’s ankles and stopping her from getting closer. 

“Maybe you’d like to see just how much it hurts!” Hideko snarled as the vines around Riko started to grow thorns. The vines began to move around Riko’s body, making her wince and cry in pain. Chika grit her teeth furiously. 

“Aw, does it hurt watching your friend suffer? I bet it does! Now you know how Fumiko felt, how Mika felt, how everyone I know dearly felt! 

Finally, she threw Riko aside with immense force, making her crash into the wall. Falling to the floor, Chika could see her body covered in painful scratch marks. She had her eyes closed, breathing in slow pained breaths.

* * *

Stand User: Hideko

Stand Name:  **Bed of Roses**

Stand Stats:

Stats: Strength - C | Speed - B | Range - E | Durability - C | Precision - A | Potential - B

Ability:

The user can transform themselves into any kind of plant. The user has full control of their plant form, and can grow, decay and move at will, and can even turn specific parts of their body into a plant alone. Damage to themselves in plant form translates to their real body. The user cannot transform other objects into plants.

* * *

“Looks like she can’t help you now!” Hideko grinned. “Now it’s your turn.” 

“The same trick isn’t going to work twice!” Chika said as she struck the floor again with  **Tangerine Dream** . “I’ll just cut your roots until you can't hold me any longer!” 

The floor once again shattered, revealing a writhing mass of vines. Chika took a slice at the roots again, but this time they darted aside into the floor. While she was distracted, more of them erupted from the floor and began to wrap themselves around Chika. 

“Wha-!?”

“You’re right, the same trick won’t work twice! That’s why you have to mix things up!”

The vines around Chika began to sprout thorns, digging into her skin.

“I’ll shred you apart just like your friend! Prepare to die!”

Chika smirked, starting to laugh quietly to herself. Hideko paused, looking at her in confusion.

“What, have you finally gone insane? Showing your true colors?”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong.” Chika said as she closed her eyes with a smile. “I’m just happy.”

“Are you some kind of masochist or something?”

“I’m just happy I finally have the drive to see this through!”

Summoning  **Tangerine Dream** , she threw the wood shard at immense speed. It entered Hideko’s neck, making her shout in pain as she gagged. 

“You may call us monsters, but torturing Riko like that...it just goes to show how much of a hypocrite you really are. I don’t need  **Telegraph Road** to be able to understand that.”

Hideko fell backwards against the wall, the vines around Chika retreating back to her. Laying on the brink of death, she allowed her severed foot to be transformed into a rose and her neck into several vines to slow the bleeding. She struggled to breathe, tears in the corner of her eyes. 

“I-Is this...the...end?”

“Of you? Unfortunately yes.” Chika confirmed.

“Un...fortunately? B-But...why?”

“Hideko, we only attacked you two because you were attacking us. I pity your position, but I couldn’t just sit back and let my friends die. I’m horrified with what I’ve done, but watching you torture Riko made me realize you wanted the same thing. To fight to protect your friends. If I can’t fight back with all my might, they’ll end up like Fumiko. I couldn’t bear the thought of that ever happening.”

“I...see.” Hideko said weakly. “Please...promise me. Promise...you'll end this madness.”

Chika nodded solemnly. Fumiko gave her a sad smile as her eyes began to close. 

“T-Thank...you.”

Her body fell to the floor with a thunk, lifeless as the plantlife on her body returned to its normal state. Chika’s lip quivered as tears started to roll down her cheek.

“You pity her, don’t you?” Riko said, now back to her senses.

“She was just like us. Even though she wanted to kill us, I…”

Riko hugged Chika, letting her cry into her shoulder.

“You did what you had too.”

The two paused as a set of footsteps started to walk up the creaking stairway. Standing next to each other, they summoned their stands fearfully.

_ “I don’t think I have the energy in me to fight another stand user! Just how many of them are there? I feel so exhausted, I don’t think I can use another ounce of my strength.” _

A figure started to emerge from the stairway, making the two girls stand in fighting stances. 

_ “What do we do? Are we going to die?” _

“What the hell are you two doing!?” Shouted an infuriated Dia. “I wake up to hear all this commotion and next thing I know there’s a corpse of a dead girl in the hallway! Are you two insane!?”

“Wait, I can explain-”

“Oh you bet you’re going to explain!” Dia yelled. “And...is that another body behind you two!?”

“We were attacked by them, we didn’t have a choice! They almost killed us with their stands!”

“And why were you two out of your rooms in the middle of the night?” Dia lectured. “If you had stayed in your rooms, you would’ve been much safer! Just look at you Riko, you look like you stepped into a blender!”

“S-Sorry…”

“I don’t know how they got here, but either way it seems we aren’t as safe as we thought. Tomorrow morning, we’re going to start learning our abilities. Since you two most likely know your abilities, I’d suggest telling the rest of us their powers in due time to better cooperate.”

“Yes, Dia.” The two acknowledged in unison. 

“Good, now get back to bed this instant.”

“Understood!” came a higher pitched voice. 

The three of them turned in surprise to see a tiny stand floating near Riko’s shoulder.

“Riko, is that your stand?” Dia asked.

“Yeah, half of it. This is  **Love Over Gold** , part of my stand  **Telegraph Road** .”

“I see. Now get to bed, you can explain this mess to the others.” Dia said in annoyance. “I assume they also referred to their abilities as “stands”, so I’d like to hear about that too.”

Chika sighed quietly to herself as she followed after Dia.

“Not like I’ll be able to sleep well after tonight.”

* * *

Stand User: Riko Sakurauchi

Stand Name:  **Telegraph Road**

Stand Stats:

Stats: Strength - E | Speed - B | Range - A | Durability - B | Precision - B | Potential - C

Ability:

Two part stand with a miniature humanoid called “ **Love Over Gold** ” that phases itself into another person to read their emotions, position, etc. Typewriter exists separately, floating in midair. It prints results from Love Over Gold’s target only if asked too. Love Over Gold’s range of 200 Meters, after which it can travel an infinite distance.


	5. Catch The Wind - Part 1

Chapter 5: Catch The Wind - Part 1

Chika’s eyelids fluttered open. She rubbed her eyes and sat on the edge of her bed, then rubbing her shoulder and yawning audibly.

_ “My shoulder aches. These beds are really uncomfortable, it’s a miracle anyone could sleep in them.” _

“Oh, you’re awake?” 

Sitting up, Chika saw Riko laying on her back still under the covers.

“Morning. How’s your injuries?”

“Thankfully the cuts weren’t deep enough to cause me to bleed much, but they stretch so far across my body we couldn’t exactly bandage them without turning me into a living mummy. They’ll heal up in a few days’ time.”

“Thank goodness, it looked pretty severe when I saw it last night. By the way, where’s You?”

“Everyone’s getting ready to test out their abilities. I’m sitting it out by force, Dia told me to rest and let them heal.”

“Hey, I want to see them practice! Why didn’t anyone wake me?”

“They wanted to let the two of us get some sleep. We took quite a beating last night.”

“I can sleep later! I’ll see you later, Riko!”

Chika jumped out of bed and ran out the door, sprinting towards the sound of voices near the front entrance. Dia’s voice boomed above the rest as she seemed to address them.

“...and that’s everything I’ve gathered about last night’s assault. Now, I’d like to have us test out our abilities one by one.” 

“I’ll go first!” Chika burst in enthusiastically.

“Buu buuuuuu! You already used your  **Tangerine Dream** plenty last night! We’re doing this for our own safety, not for fun.”

“How about I go first?” You asked.

“We’re not going in any particular order, by all means. Just keep an eye open for anything suspicious.”

“Ehhhh? But I asked first!”

“I already explained this to you Chika, you’ll get your chance to show it off once everyone else has been able to at least test theirs out. We need to get a good grasp of our abilities if we want to have a fighting chance, and with the likelihood another assault will come soon, I’d like to make sure everyone’s familiar with their powers as quickly as possible.”

“Aw, fine. We should at least call them stands like those girls had called them.”

“Good call. You, head on outside and try to summon your stand. Face away from the building so you don’t hurt any of us by accident.”

“You got it!” She said with a salute.

You ran out the front door and into the empty field. She took a deep breath and readied herself.

“I hope you’re all watching! Come forth, my stand! Yousoro!!!”

You’s aura flared to life, but no stand seemed to appear. She looked around at herself with a confused look before looking over her shoulder and shrugging. 

“Is something wrong?” Dia called to her.

“I can’t find my stand!” She called back out of confusion. “Do you see it anywhere near me?”

“Do you think it’s a long range one?” 

“Maybe? That would probably explain why I can’t see it.”

You looked up to the sky, her eyes suddenly widening as she pointed up at something flying through the sky. 

“Hey, that must be my stand! What’s it doing all the way up there?”

“Can you try bringing it closer so we can get a closer look at it?” Dia asked. “It’s hard to make it out clearly at that height.”

Chika peeked her head around the edge of the doorway, seeing the silver stand start to approach You. It appeared to have some sort of wings like a plane on its sides, and some sort of visor near the eyes. As it got closer, it seemed to be picking up speed. Chika looked at it skeptically as it got closer and closer.

“H-Hey, slow down!” You called at it. “You’ll crash into me!”

The stand moved its arms forward from the sides, hands opened wide.

“You, get out of there!” Chika called out in distress. “That’s not your stand!”

You tried to run out of the way, but it was too late. The stand grabbed one of her legs and dragged her off the ground with ease. It flew skyward, carrying You upward by her right leg. Chika watched in horror as the force of the impact bent You’s leg to the side in a completely unnatural direction. 

“Uwaaaaaaaggggh!!!” You screamed in what looked to be horror and pain.

“I’ve got to help her!  **Tangerine Dre** -”

“Chika, stay back!” Dia halted. "Don’t reveal your stand to whoever that is!”

“You, hang on! Don’t let go of her!” Chika yelled out.

You tried reaching up towards the stand, but her reach wasn’t far enough. 

_ “I’ve got to grab on! If she drops me, I’m as good as dead!” _

You squinted her eyes as she reached with all her might, to no avail. 

_ “I’ve got to hang on no matter what! I have to-” _

The stand let go of her, attempting to throw her aside. You shrieked as she expected to fall to her death, only to feel herself gripping tightly around the stand’s leg. Everyone stared up at her in awe as they took in the strange scene.

“Maybe I’m just seeing things…” Chika said in quiet shock. “...but is You holding onto her by her leg?”

You opened her eyes to find that she’d secured herself by wrapping her leg around the stand. 

“W-What the-!?”

Her shoe and sock fell off, revealing her foot had transformed into a tentacle complete with suckers. 

_ “No wonder my stand wasn’t appearing, my stand affects my body directly! Lucky for me, it’s the perfect ability to save myself with!”  _

You climbed up the leg of the stand, turning her other leg into a tentacle and pulling herself closer. It tried to pull off the tentacles, but You held firm.

“I don’t know if you know, but some species of Octopus have up to 3 times the strength of an adult person! Considering this is even larger than most tentacles and a stand for that matter, I can do more than just hold on! In fact, since I haven’t had the chance to name it until now, I’ll let you be the first person to know the name I’ve given it!  **Octopus’s Garden** !”

You crawled up far enough to grab on with her arms, pulling herself onto the torso. The stand tried to pull her away by grabbing her head, but to no avail. Getting a closer look at the head, You noticed a partially clear light green visor. Looking through them, she saw a distressed set of eyes look back at her.

_ “There’s someone inside the stand! Is it the user, or are they trapped?” _

Their eyes narrowed aggressively as they suddenly dove downwards at blinding speeds.

_ “Nope, she’s definitely in control.” _

The stand kept accelerating until it was close to the ground, pulling up and flying around at intense speeds. You clung for dear life as the user tried their best to use the intense force of wind to blow her off. 

_ “I have to get off her somehow, but I can’t just jump off! I’d die!” _

Looking back forward, she noticed they were flying closer and closer to the building. 

“I’m afraid I can’t let any of you live.” Came a muffled voice from the suit. “Even if I can’t throw you off, I’m still in total control. I’ve resolved myself to this path, and I will not give in to any of you.”

Flying near the edge of the building, she tried pushing You into the wall. You moved her main body out of the way, but her tentacles wrapped around the girl’s legs were scraped against the old wooden walls. Blood splattered onto the wall as it shredded the skin on her tentacle legs.

“I’m not exerting much of my energy to fly around like this, you on the other hand are going to have to constantly hold tight to keep from falling to your death. I’ve got more than enough stamina to outlast you, but I’d rather not kill you slowly.”

_ “Was that her attempt to sound intimidating?”  _ You wondered to herself.  _ “Usually people would fear a slow death rather than a quick one, so why would she say it?” _

Speeding up, she looped back around towards the building for another attack. Letting her arms turn into tentacles, You grabbed the solid wings on the girl’s back as she barely dodged another excruciating scrape against the wall.

_ “I can’t keep having these close calls or I’m going to lose too much blood to stay conscious. I’ve got to figure out something and fast!”  _

Looping around, the girl aimed to smash her against the wall once more. 

“Change your position all you want, you’ll only speed up the process!”

You grunted as she wrapped two tentacles around the girl’s neck. 

“Like I said before, an octopus has an extremely tight grip! If I can’t get off you, I’ll just have to suffocate you!”

You wrapped around her neck and squeezed with all of her strength, but somehow the girl’s neck didn’t so much as constrict in the slightest.

“Try all you like, but you’ll never be able to constrict me!  **Catch The Wind** surrounds me like a protective suit, armor far stronger than any kind of steel! I came here to see my mission through to the end, and nothing will get in my way!”

You tried her best to climb down to the wing, but the building came too fast. The force of the impact knocked her other arm away, leaving her to dangle helplessly by the wing. Seeing her chance, the girl quickly made another loop back to knock her off.

“It’s over for you!”

Just before impact, You swung her body to the side and pulled on the wing. The force caused the girl to shift in flight direction and miss the wall entirely.

“M-My wing! You just-”

“When I was knocked to the side, I could feel a slight shift in your direction when my arm tugged on your wing! It was a gamble, but now I know how to stop you! You may have the resolve to kill us, but I have the resolve to protect my friends from you or anyone else who’d wish them dead! If you want to get to Chika, you have to go through me.”

* * *

Dia and Ruby ran up to the second floor, Ruby trailing behind as Dia dragged her along by the wrist. 

“W-Where are we going, sis? Shouldn’t I be going back to my room?”

“I want you to stay near me. Since we’re under attack, you’re safest near me.”

“Is You going to be ok?” 

“I wish I could say no, but if we can figure out a plan to fight her, we could have a better chance at fending her off. I’m going to observe her for the time being, so stay out of sight.”

Dia slowed down after reaching a large set of windows, being cautious not to make herself visible. 

“Wasn’t there a hole in the floor from the attack last night?” Ruby asked in confusion.

“That fight took place on the other side of the building. Luckily, this side wasn’t broken so we still have access to the upstairs. It makes an excellent vantage point to see our attacker.”

“I never thought I’d live to see the day where I’d see a girl fly.” Ruby said quietly to herself.

“Hold on. What did you just say?” Dia questioned in a slow and serious tone.

“P-Pigii! D-Did I say something wrong!?”

“All we saw was a stand flying around, but you shouldn’t be able to see her at all! Did you...awaken a stand of your own?”

“Show me your stand’s hand again.” Ruby requested. Dia held up her hand once more, Ruby focusing on it intently for anything unusual.

“Do you see anything different?”

  
“No, not at all.”

“Then how can you…”

Dia’s thoughts were interrupted as the sound of the girls approaching outside was made clear by the sound of a loud jet. In reaction, she ran to the side of the big window to watch them fly by. Zooming past, she saw You still clinging to the girl. 

“Looks like You’s learned to manage her stand quite well already.” Dia observed. “Wrapping around the wings of that stand to control her is quite a brilliant idea.”

“W-Wings?” Ruby asked. “All I saw was two girls flying by!” 

“Are you sure you just didn’t get a good look?”

“No, I got a good look at both of them! It looked like You was holding onto thin air, but I must not be able to see these wings you’re mentioning.”

“I think the stand might be some kind of suit then. Wait for her to pass again and we’ll get a closer look.”

“O-Ok, I’ll keep a close eye on her.” 

“It sounds like she’s coming back, she’s going to come into view any second now!”

Barely a second after the words left her lips, the girls appeared at a farther distance from the building, making it easier to observe. 

“It seems she has a visor near her eyes, that seems concrete enough evidence to say she’s wearing a suit. Excellent work, Ruby.”

Ruby didn’t respond, her eyes narrowing in on the girl. Suddenly, she jumped back in fright.

“PIGYAAAA!!!”

“Ruby, is something wrong!?” Dia asked as she gripped Ruby’s shoulder.

“T-That has to be her! I’d recognize that face anywhere!”

“You know that girl?”

“That girl...she’s Kotori! Kotori Minami!”

* * *

Stand User: You Watanabe

Stand Name:  **Octopus’s Garden**

Stand Stats:

Stats: Strength - C | Speed - C | Range - D | Durability - B | Precision - B | Potential - B

Ability:

Grants the user the physical properties of a cephalopod (Example: squeezing into tight spaces or attaching to objects with the power of suction). User can also turn their saliva into a thick ink to spit like a projectile, as well as transform their appendages into tentacles.


	6. Catch The Wind - Part 2

Chapter 6: Catch the Wind - Part 2

You continued to pull on the girl’s wings, preventing her from going anywhere near the building. Instead, the two continued to fly around the island with no real goal in mind.

“Stubborn aren’t you?” You mocked.

The girl didn’t reply. Flying a little bit closer to the building, the girl made no sudden movements to attempt to harm You.

_ “What’s she up to? Is she trying to catch me off guard? Unfortunately for you, my reaction skills and precision are trained to excellence! I never knew that being a school idol could help save my life, but it’ll stop her from getting the chance to lay a finger on me again!” _

She started to fly in closer and closer circles to the building, at a similar height to before. You stared intensely at the wall as she focused on the moment the girl would attempt to push her against it. 

_ “Any second now...any second…” _

Then, she suddenly turned towards the wall.

_ “Now!” _

You yanked on her wings once again to turn away from the building. Quickly however, the girl grabbed her own wings and forced them to turn back in the direction she’d intended. You was already little more than an inch away from the wall, so she did her best to brace herself. It did little however, as the wall scraped against her back in the most damaging attack yet. You could already feel the horrible road rash on her back, stinging like all hell.

_ “I moved her wings to a different position, how did she know where to grab them so quickly!? To counteract my tilt with her own strength, that must’ve taken immense strength too! It’s possible the stand’s power helped her out, but her strength exceeded mine! She had to have trained herself at least somewhat to do that...just who is this girl!?” _

The girl quickly looped back around for another strike.

“Don’t make this any harder than this has to be!”

“If you don’t want to kill me, why are you doing it!?”

“If I had a choice, I wouldn’t be doing this to begin with. Your life must end by my hands, or I will risk everything that I hold dear!”

“Wait, we can fight with you!”

“And why should I trust you?”

“I…”

“Please forgive me, but I’m afraid that’s not a risk I can take. I must end you!”

Turning back towards the building, she readied herself for another attack. You grit her teeth, taking some of her tentacles and wrapping them around the girl’s neck.

“If that’s how it’s gonna be, then don’t expect me to give up either!”

Letting go of the wings, You quickly swung herself around onto their chest. She crawled up to their face and looked her dead in the eyes. The girl narrowed her eyes, speeding up as she fully intended to knock You off for good. To her surprise, You opened her mouth wide. Inside her mouth, a strange black liquid flooded around every inch of her mouth. In one quick spit, she splattered it all over the girl’s visor. 

“W-What is this!?”

“ **Octopus’s Garden** allows me to use the techniques of an octopus, no matter what! I can turn my saliva into sticky ink, which is perfect for blinding you!”

Unable to see where she was going, she crashed herself into the side of the building, slowing her momentum immensely and causing the two to fall into the sand below. 

_ “I’m finally off...but damn does it hurt…” _

You groaned as she rubbed her side which felt bruised from the crash. About a few meters away, they both stood up and faced each other. The girl was holding her right arm with her hand, which from the looks of it was most likely broken. Her exhausted and angry eyes met You’s.

“Don’t think that just because you’re back on the ground, you’ve gotten away from me.” She warned her. “Bringing you back up in the air is too dangerous for me, but it’s not the only way I can kill you. I can and will kill you...for Honoka’s sake.”

_ “Honoka’s sake...don’t tell me she’s...no. That can’t be!” _

With a jump, she blasted off into the air. You ran away from the wall and started to run towards the nearest entrance to the building. It was a smaller door on the side of the building, raised slightly above the sand. As You made a mad dash for it, the door opened and Yoshiko appeared in the doorway.

“You! This way!” 

Up in the air, the girl dive bombed towards You. Getting close, she opened her palm to grab her once more.

_ “I wanted to end this quickly, but since you’ve resisted thus far I’ll just have to bash you against the rocks instead!” _

You dashed into the doorframe just a moment before she struck, but in her frantic dash for the door, her arm stuck out just enough for the girl to see. She grabbed hold of You’s arm, and with quick reaction, she dragged her out of the building.

_ “I won’t let you grab on this time!” _

Letting go, she threw her down against the sand, causing her to squeal as she tumbled across the ground. Flying upwards, she stopped to hover and survey the damages.

_ “W-Wait a minute...that’s not her!” _

“Yoshiko!!!” You called out as she ran back outside to her side.

“It’s Yoha-” She stopped herself short as she gripped her shoulder in pain. “I think that dislocated my shoulder, I should consider myself lucky she didn’t rip my arm clean off.”

“Yoshiko, what were you thinking!?” You scolded. We have to get inside before-”

Looking back up, You noticed the girl flying towards them as fast as she could.

_ “I should’ve stayed inside! She’s too close for me to run back, there’s no way I can dodge!” _

You braced herself as the girl flew in for the kill.

_ “You’ve got nowhere to run now!”  _ The girl thought triumphantly.  _ “Trying to save your friend will be the death of you!” _

Suddenly, a strong gust of wind blew sand in her face and pushed her off course, making her miss the girls entirely and instead crash land into the sand beyond them. Pushing her face up out of the sand, she wiped the grains from her visor. She looked up at the two girls in disbelief.

_ “What just happened!?  _ **_Catch the Wind_ ** _ has never had problems with wind before! Fine, I’ll just have to give it another shot!”  _

Soaring up into the air once more, she quickly looped around and got ready for her next attack. Helping Yoshiko to her feet, You began to run towards the door once more. Gritting her teeth, the girl dove down towards them once more. 

_ “I refuse to let this opportunity slip through my fingers!” _

Right before impact, a strong gust of wind blew her away from the two once more. Before she could try to counteract it, she crashed into the wall and tumbled across the ground. Struggling to sit in an upright position, she sat hunched over staring at the two in confusion.

_ “This can’t be right! Why can’t I hit them all of a sudden? Why is all this wind…” _

Her train of thought ended as she noticed Yoshiko's small but sinister smile.

“Ku ku ku...you don’t think I let you grab my arm by accident did you?”

Yoshiko turned herself towards the girl and let her aura flare to life.

“My stand is touch activated. One touch of my finger, and you’re as good as defeated.”

“You’re lying.” The girl said doubtfully. “If that was the case, I wouldn’t be standing here right now! If I have to kill you first I will!”

Soaring back up into the sky, she prepared for yet another assault. Yoshiko just folded her arms, letting her smile fade.

“My stand imbues those I choose with the same horrendous luck I face, perhaps even worse. I was going to explain it to her so she would surrender, but it seems that her stubborn determination will be the end of her. That is her only fate, now that  **The Unforgiven** is in effect.”

The girl looped back around, getting ready once more to strike. 

“Wait...if she keeps this up is she going to die?” You asked.

“Knowing my luck and considering her fast acceleration, most likely.”

“Yoshiko, I think we should try keeping her alive!”

“What!? But she’s trying to kill us! There’s no way we can restrain her!”

“I know but...I think I might know who she is!”

“You what!? Then tell me! Who is she!?”   
  
“She’s-”

Before they could continue, the roar of a jet filled the air.

_ “I refuse to give up, I cannot give up! For Honoka, I will not fail! Let’s see you deflect my stand at maximum speed!” _

As she sped towards them, she suddenly felt her vision begin to blur. Her sense of direction failed on her, causing her to veer away from the girls and towards the shoreline.

_ “M-My head...what’s…” _

Darkness began to fill her eyes as her brain started to shut off.

_ “Ho...noka...help...me…” _

You and Yoshiko’s eyes widened as her suit began to fade. As she passed by the two of them, they got to see her without her suit for a brief moment. Then, she smashed into the rocks below with a sickening crunch of bone. Neither girl moved, stunned in silence.

“Yoshiko...you saw that too, right?”

“I might be mistaken but...was that...an Otonokizaka uniform?”

“Then that has to have been...oh god, I was right.”

The two were interrupted by a pair of footsteps coming from the building. Dia and Ruby burst out of the door, running to their side.

“Are you two hurt!? What’s going on!?” Dia demanded.

“Dia…” You began with fear in her voice. “I think I know who that person was.”

“Ruby got a good look at her out the second story window. I hate to say it, but-”

“It’s Kotori.” You interrupted. “When I was trying to convince her to stop, she...she said she was doing it for Honoka’s sake.”

Dia suddenly started rushing down the beach towards where Kotori had landed. Coming to the top of a bank that partially overlooked the rocks, she stopped. Ruby started running over to see, but Dia held her hand behind her to stop.

“Please...don’t come any closer, Ruby. I don’t want you to have to see this.” 

“Y-You mean she’s-”   
  
“Don’t make me repeat myself!” Dia yelled. Everyone froze a bit at the way her voice cracked. She turned back to the group with a look of intense worry and grief on her face.

“Everyone, get back inside the building! Don’t let your guard down, no matter what!”

“Dia, what are you-”    
  
“Get inside, now!”

Dia dragged Ruby back into the building, Yoshiko following her a few steps until she realized You wasn’t following.

“You, come on, get inside!”

She didn’t respond, staring blankly towards the ledge. Then, she started walking over to the crash site. 

“Hey, what are you doing!?”

Yoshiko ran after her, but You forced herself to come to the edge of the small hill. Looking down, a look of horror washed over her face.

“You, we should listen to Dia before-”

Yoshiko stopped as the two of them gazed down at Kotori’s body. It was bruised and bloody, with horrible scrapes all up and down her body. Her arm that was previously injured had become completely severed from her body, left lying a few meters behind her. Her neck was bent in an unnatural angle, most certainly broken.

“No wonder she didn’t want Ruby to see this.” You said quietly under her breath. “I...I have nobody to blame for this but ourselves. We killed her. We killed Kotori.”

A lone raindrop on her head snapped her back to attention.

“Those look like rain clouds.” Yoshiko said in a monotone voice. “We should head inside.”

You nodded, following her back as the island faded to the sound of the lapping waves and a lone seagull calling above.

* * *

Stand User: Kotori Minami

Stand Name:  **Catch the Wind**

Stand Stats:

Stats: Strength - B | Speed - A | Range - E | Durability - A | Precision - C | Potential - D

Ability:

Suit stand that grants the power of flight by a powerful jet on her back. Speeds can reach up to about 100 mph during flight. Kotori can lift off easily regardless of wind currents and is hard to weigh down from carried objects. The stand can also stiffen her suit to prevent damage or unwanted movement.

* * *

The room was dead quiet. None of the second years could think of anything to say, or any reason to say anything. You laid with her head turned to the wall, as she had for most of the day. Nobody felt like talking, but nobody felt like they could fall asleep either. Nothing but the lone sound of raindrops in the background. Chika laid a hand on her head and sighed quietly to herself. There was a light knock on the door, causing Chika and Riko to look up. Yoshiko walked in with an equally gloomy face.

“Dia says it’s about time for dinner.”

“Alright, I’ll be there in a few.” Chika responded unenthusiastically.

“Is she asleep?”

“No, I’m awake.” You responded in a soft, groggy voice.

“You should come get some food too.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“...”

“I’m sorry. It’s just…”

“I understand. You should still eat though, even if you don’t want to. You’ll need to take care of yourself to let those wounds heal well.”

You groaned as she rolled out of bed, following the others towards the basement for their rations. There sounded like there was some kind of argument going on downstairs, and as expected, Dia was one of said voices.

“For the last time, don’t take any more than one! We need to save as many as we can!”

“Awww, but Diaaaa! These wafers are so good, I can’t resist having some more!~” Mari said as she reached for a bag that Dia was holding. 

“Mari, what part of ‘limited supplies’ do you not understand!? Each and every one of these is precious, this isn’t like your mansion where you can order all the food you like! You should learn to restrain yourself!”

“But Diaaaaaa!” 

“No buts! Now get off me and act your age! You’re a third year for pete’s sake!”

Dia handed the package to Riko, much to Mari’s dismay. Riko sighed and handed it to You.

“Here, eat at least a little bit.”

You reluctantly took the package.

“T-Thank you.”

You looked up at everyone else, Dia handing out a few packages to the other members as Mari snuck another package for herself. Exhaling through her nose, she turned to walk back up the stairs.

“You-chan, where are you going?” Chika asked.

“I’m just going to get some air. I need to clear my head.”

“Just don’t go out in the rain, ok? You wouldn’t want to get soaked.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t.” she replied as she walked up and out of the basement. 

* * *

She walked down the empty hallway, opening up her rations unenthusiastically. 

“This must’ve been one of the packages that was knocked on the floor during the assault the other night. The rations are all broken up into chunks.”

She looked up, gazing out the window at the spot near Kotori’s crash site. The waves were crashing against the shore, and most likely had already washed away Kotori’s body. 

_ “For Honoka’s sake...what did she even mean by that? What would attacking us have anything to do with Honoka? Was she coerced into doing this? Blackmailed? She wasn’t thrilled at the idea of killing any of us, so what would anyone have to gain by attacking us? It just doesn’t make any sense!” _

Her attention came back to reality at the sight of a seagull that was perched inside of an open window. It seemed to notice her too, looking at her with wary eyes.

_ “It must be sitting out of the rain. Poor thing.” _

Taking her rations, she shook some crumbs out into her hand and slowly began to approach it.

“You hungry? It’s ok, they’re safe for you to eat.”

The seagull was hesitant, but after a bit of time, it gave in and began to eat them up. You observed the seagull, taking in its various features.

“Looks like you’re a female.” She said quietly. “It makes me feel a bit better to know at least the animals are still normal. Maybe this isn’t the end of it all like I thought it was.” 

You shook out a few more crumbs to keep feeding the gull. After it ate them up, You put her hand down and backed away.

“I was worried I’d lost my humanity after all that happened, but it seems there’s still some good in me after all. Who knew a pep talk with a seagull would be so helpful? Whatever the case, I should get back to Chika and the others. I wouldn’t want them worrying about me.”

Chika turned away and started to walk back down the hallway. With her eyes averted, she failed to notice a mysterious arm that reached towards her from behind. By the time she started to turn her head around, it had already struck.

* * *

“W-What...happened here?” Chika said in quiet shock. “How did…”

Dia crouched down to her knees, checking You’s pulse at her wrist. After several moments, she let it go and clenched her hand in a tight fist.

“This can’t be right, there’s no way she’s…” Chika trailed off ”Riko! Use  **Telegraph Road** on her!”

“Chika, please…” Riko said between light sobs.

“Just do it! She has to be alive! She has to be!”

Riko doubtfully summoned her stand, sending  **Love Over Gold** into You’s limp body.

“Her entire chest is butchered, Chika.” Dia tried to reason with Chika. “She doesn’t even have a pulse!”

“But she...she can’t be…”

**Telegraph Road** whirred as a paper began to print out of the stand.

“See!? She has to be alive! Just look at what it says on-”

She fell silent upon reading the passage it had created.

**_“No brain activity detected.”_ **

Chika fell to her knees, not saying another word. Finally, her tears allowed themselves to run down her cheeks. The hallway was quiet, save for the sounds of light sobbing and the gentle rain on the windows outside. Finally, Chika grabbed a stray piece of You’s hair and stood up slowly. She held it in front of her, murderous rage surging in her eyes.

“The time for negotiation has ended. We have no choice but to fight back. I promise here and now, I swear I’ll find the person responsible...and I will avenge You. I swear it.”

* * *

Stand User: Yoshiko Tsushima

Stand Name:  **The Unforgiven**

Stand Stats:

Strength - E | Speed - B | Range - D | Durability - D | Precision - B | Potential - D

Ability:

Victims that come into contact with this stand become extremely unlucky. Initial range is only as far as Yoshiko can reach, but the stand becomes long range after it’s in full effect. The effect is able to be deactivated at Yoshiko’s command or if Yoshiko becomes unconscious.


	7. Raising Sand - Part 1

Chapter 7: Raising Sand - Part 1

The night was relatively calm, only the gentle breeze disturbing the silence. Hanamaru sat in a chair near the main doorway, resting her head in her hand. She shivered a bit as the cool ocean wind blew past her.

_ “Why do I have to be sitting in the cold, zura…” _

Hanamaru groaned to herself. Standing up, she stretched her arms upwards.

“I suppose a little break couldn’t hurt.” She said with satisfaction. “I think I’ve earned it, zura!”

“Ahem.”

“Z-Zura!?” She yelled in surprise, spinning around.

“I understand it’s tedious, but we have to be on our guard at all times.” Dia scolded. “The last thing we want is to lose yet another of us.”

“I-Is it time for your shift already?”

“I couldn’t sleep well, so I decided to take mine early. Seeming as you’re hardly awake, I suppose that’s for the best.”

_ “I can’t tell if that comment was meant to be condescending or merely factual. Somehow I feel it’s not the latter.” _

“I assume it’s been calm for you?”

“Thankfully, yes. Nothing but the sound of the wind.”

“Mind if I have a look outside?”

“I’m not sure you need my permission, but by all means.”

Dia stepped out the front door, keeping an eye on her surroundings. Hanamaru trailed behind her.

“Dia, aren’t we supposed to be watching from the main entrance?”

Dia stopped walking abruptly, continuing to face away from her.

“Hanamaru?”

“H-Huh? Is something wrong?”

“When I asked for you to take the first shift, I asked you to watch the front entrance specifically. Is that not correct?”

“That sounds right to me...d-did I do something wrong?”

“Didn’t I also ask you to check the perimeter as well?”

“...eh?”

“Hanamaru, I only asked that you check outside every once in a while. Guarding only one entrance leaves us vulnerable to attack.”

“Well I don’t have a flashlight, it’s not exactly easy to see in the dark without one, zura.”

“I suppose now is as good a time as any to patrol then. Mind accompanying me?”

“Not at all. It feels like we haven’t had a proper conversation in so long.”

The two walked out the front door and around the side opposite to Kotori's crash site. Even in the dark, Hanamaru could tell Dia was bothered by something.

“Hanamaru, I have to admit I’ve got a worrying hunch.”

“About what, zura?”

“About Kotori’s attack yesterday.”

“To think that one of the people who inspired Aqours would also be killed by us. It’s not an easy thought to process.”

“That is true, but that’s not what I’m worried about. I know µ's better than most people, and I know for a fact that Kotori was one of the kindest members. From what You told me as well, it seemed like she didn’t really want to kill us. Was she forced to fight us? Why did she say it was for Honoka’s sake? Even if it was blackmail or some form of foul play, I can’t seem to find any rational reason behind why we’d be targeted.”

“I don’t get it either, zura. Do you think that...the other members of µ's will attack us too?”

“That’s what I’m more worried about. It was one thing to kill those two girls, Hideko and Fumiko, but to kill the members of µ's...I don’t think I could bear the weight of that.”

“What happens if they do come for us? Will you be able to fight them?”

“...”

Hanamaru rubbed her arms in reaction as the cold night air blew against her.

“All this wind is making me shiver, zura. It’s even kicking up the sand.”

Dia turned her head towards a swirling mass of sand in the air. She stood staring at it without a word.

“Something wrong, Dia?”

“Hanamaru, I’d like you to put your finger in your mouth.”   
  
“H-Huh? What for?”

“Humor me.” 

Dia put her finger in her own mouth, holding it up to the wind. Hanamaru did so as well, feeling the wind blow against her wet finger. 

“The wind seems to be blowing south, zura.”

“Exactly. Now look at the direction that sand is blowing.”

“It’s blowing...in the opposite direction? Wait, don’t tell me...”

“I can’t say for certain, but this might be a stand user we’re dealing with. Regardless, my stand is perfect for this job.”

“Your stand had a purple eye symbol on its palm, didn’t it? Is your stand some kind of vision-based stand, zura!?” 

Dia smirked, allowing her aura to flare to life. Her stand began to manifest behind her, revealing the body itself had many eye symbols scattered across it. Fine machinery clicked and whirred on the stand’s face, one eye resembling some sort of circular dial and the other a lens attached to some sort of high power scope. Most striking was the bright diamond that adorned her cheek near her mouth.

“ **Smooth Criminal** …”

Whirring to life, the stand looked closely at the area around it. The scope adjusted itself as it observed the sand blowing near them.

“Do you see anything, zura?”

“Not yet, but something still feels off.”

Dia put her hand into the air in front of her, feeling the sand blow by it.

“There’s almost a sort of...lifeforce in the sand. I know that hardly sounds concrete, but-”

“Dia, look out!” 

Dia turned her head around to see several pointed rocks hurtling her way.  **Smooth Criminal** quickly knocked away some of the rocks, but two smaller rocks collided with her face before she could react in time. The rocks fell quickly from her cheek, leaving two cuts across it. 

“There’s no doubt about it, there has to be a stand user around us! Hanamaru, stay on your guard!”

“It’s too dark out here, I can’t see a thing, zura!”

“Get back inside, Hanamaru. I’m not sure where the user is, but they’re definitely using the dark to their advantage. However, the only one in this situation with the advantage is me.”

The scope on  **Smooth Criminal** ’s face began to whirr as it shifted the lenses in its scope. 

“I can see through more than just a standard lens,  **Smooth Criminal** also allows me to see in other ways, such as infrared and night vision. Night vision could work, but the cold of the oceanside means she’ll stick out like a sore thumb on a thermal camera.”

“You sure you don’t need my help, zura?”

“I’m more than capable, don’t worry. Get back inside before she strikes again!”

“Be careful, zu-”

Hanamaru turned around to run back to the entrance, but after a few steps, her feet started to sink into the sand.

“What the-!?”

“Hanamaru!” Dia shouted. “There’s a large rock coming towards you!”

Hanamaru tried to move, but her feet refused to budge.

_ “I’m not going to be able to dodge it!” _

Dia watched as the rock slammed into Hanamaru’s face head-on. 

“H-Hanamaru!!!”

Dia stood still, her face horrified. However, her horror soon turned to surprise.

_ “She’s...still standing?” _

Switching to night vision, she got a better look. To her surprise, the rock seemed to be squishing against her face like an airbag. Then, the rock stopped pushing outwards around her head, receding back towards the front of her face.

_ “Is this her stand!?” _

The rock disappeared from sight as Hanamaru tilted her head back.

_ Gulp. _

Hanamaru exhaled, wiping her mouth with her hand.

“Did you just...eat that rock?”

“In one way, yes. In another, no. Even though I did swallow it, that rock didn’t go into my stomach. Although I haven’t had much time to practice, it seems my stand allows me to swallow things far larger than I’d normally be able to eat. The other night when I was having my rations, I felt a strange sensation when it touched my lips. All of a sudden, it seemed to turn into this soft flexible rubber that I swallowed all at once. Strangely though, it seemed to disappear partway down my throat. It was like it vanished into a void, but I could still sense its existence. I was worried it was some kind of stand attack, but the other half which had broken off I was able to eat perfectly normally. A while after dinner, I tried spitting it back up, and sure enough it came back as intact as it was the moment it touched my lips!”

“So it doesn’t swallow a part if it’s disconnected?”

“It seems so. However, my stand can do more than just swallow objects.”

“Do you mean...it can digest them too?”

“Based on how the objects retain their exact same qualities when spat out, it seems like I can’t. However…”

Hanamaru quickly brought the rock back up into her mouth, spitting it into the air, still in a rubbery form. The rock retained the speed it was launched at as it reformed and flew off into the other rocks with a loud crash.

“...I can fight at much further range than your stand seems to be able to!  **Smooth Criminal** may be able to see effectively in the dark, but my stand can give us that extra bit of range we might need!”

“I don’t need my stand’s abilities to see that look of determination in your eyes. I suppose there’s no stopping you, is there?”

“I’ll gladly use  **Maneater** to save my friends, zura!”

Dia gave a confident nod as she switched back to her thermal lens. 

“It’s clear her ability is able to manipulate sand, which also allows her to attack with rocks. Did you notice anything else about her ability?”

“She can make quick sand, zura.”

“Indeed. More notably, she made it in just the area around where you’re standing.”

“So you’re saying the stand user must be nearby?”

“Precisely. Watch for your opponent’s moves and make your moves as unknown to your foe as possible. No foe is without their weaknesses, so use that weakness to your advantage once you find it!”

“Well if she’s nearby, shouldn’t you be able to see her with  **Smooth Criminal** ?”

“That’s what I would think, but no matter where I look, there’s no signs of her. It seems she’s masked her presence somehow.”

“Do you think she’s buried under the sand?”

“No, if that were the case, I’d still be able to see her warmth through it. Wait for her attack and see if you can spot anything different.”

The wind began to blow around them, making the sand in the air dance around. The two of them looked around for any signs of their attacker, as well as any potential rocks. Their eyes focused on the air around them, Hanamaru only bothering to look down at the sound of movement in the sand. Suddenly, a pair of arms burst up from the ground and grabbed Hanamaru by the ankles.

“W-Where did they come from, zura!?”

“Crap!  **Smooth Criminal** !”

“Wait Dia, behind you!”

Dia looked over her shoulder in time to see a barrage of pointed rocks hurtling towards her. As she tried to dodge, she found that her feet had also begun to sink into the quicksand. Doing her best to guard with her stand, she managed to deflect a few of the rocks. A good amount of them still struck her back with enough force to draw blood.

“Dia! Are you ok!?”

“I was careless. She didn’t grab onto your legs to pull you under, it was to distract me long enough so she could attack me from behind.”

“But how did she get there? Didn’t you say that you saw nothing on your thermal camera?”

“Exactly. What’s more curious is that her arms have vanished.”

Hanamaru looked back down to see that, although more buried in the sand, her ankles were free of the arms.

“Feeling the sand slowly climbing up my legs completely distracted me. I didn’t even realize they’d gone away, zura!”

“I managed to get a look at the arms while they were attacking you. Perhaps this was just the result of deeper sand blocking my thermal detection, but her arms seemed to be severed.”

“But I felt them grip me! There’s no way she’d be able to control them if they were cut off!”

Dia said nothing, standing still as she thought to herself.

“Hanamaru, can you look over your shoulder?”

She turned her head around, seeing the wind whirling around behind her. The wind seemed to start spinning some grains of sand closer to each other, creating floating clumps of sand. Even in the dark, Hanamaru could see them forming.

“She’s not picking up rocks, rather, it seems that she’s forming them herself.”

“Dia, there seems to be a lot of rocks forming, I can only swallow one at a time. I don’t think I can dodge them!”

The rocks hardened into solid spiked forms, pointing at Hanamaru and ready to attack.

“Dia, what do I do?”

Dia said nothing, putting a finger to her mouth to signal her to be quiet. 

Hanamaru looked back over her shoulder at the rocks overhead.

_ “Dia, I don’t know what you’re doing, but this better work!” _

The rocks started to fly towards Hanamaru, her back turned to them while she covered her neck and hands. She closed her eyes as she braced for impact, but opened up one of her eyes slightly.  **Smooth Criminal** suddenly spun around and launched a fist behind Dia’s back. To Hanamaru’s surprise, a disembodied head was knocked away from her. Squealing, it then disappeared as it broke up into sand grains.

“She...turned into sand!” Hanamaru exclaimed.

“Well that solves those mysteries.” Dia said in a grim tone.

“Wait, how did you know she was behind you?”

“There wasn’t any way she could aim accurately if she couldn’t see, which meant she had to have her head exposed somewhere. Her arms grabbing your ankles was enough of a hint for me to question if she somehow had split up her body. That means she could have her head exposed but hidden behind each of us when she attacks. When she was attacking you, our focus was drawn away from her real position, behind me!”

“Your analytical ability is terrifying, zura.”

“That’s not the only thing I was able to pick up on though.”

“From the sound of your voice, it doesn’t sound good.”

“Unfortunately, it looks like my hunch was right. I was able to identify our attacker.”

“That fast? Are you sure?”

“ **Smooth Criminal** got a good look at her, and even without the visual confirmation, I’d recognize that voice anywhere.”

“Don’t tell me she’s from...μ's?”

“...Yes. The girl we’re fighting is Hanayo Koizumi. As much as I hate to say it, this all but confirms my hypothesis. We are at war with μ's.”

* * *

Stand User: Dia Kurosawa

Stand Name:  **Smooth Criminal**

Stand Stats:

Strength - B | Speed - A | Range - D | Durability - C | Precision - A | Potential - B

Ability:

Allows the user to see in ways normal human eyesight cannot. (examples: Thermal, Night Vision, Infrared.) Only one type can be seen at once, but changing the sights takes only a fraction of a second to accomplish. The user can also get a clear look at objects moving at high speeds. This stand’s range of sight is quadruple the distance of normal human eyesight and can focus on objects with ease.


	8. Raising Sand - Part 2

Chapter 8: Raising Sand - Part 2

The wind swirled lightly around the two girls in the otherwise tense air. 

“Are you absolutely sure it’s her? It could’ve been anyone with the speed she was flung at!”

“ **Smooth Criminal** can distinguish the features of fast moving objects in extraordinary detail. Think of how a slow motion video records footage and slows it down to see that movement in higher detail.  **Smooth Criminal** allows me to process the information I see through it at much faster rates than any human would normally be able to process cognitively.”

“Then it looks like I have no choice but to trust your judgement, zura.”

“Keep an eye out, Hanamaru. She’s most likely going to attack you next, which means I can’t attack her from here.”

Dia tossed a rock laying on the sand near her towards Hanamaru, which landed on her lips and was sucked inside. 

“I just need to wait for her to appear behind me, right?”

“Possibly, but keep an eye out.”

“Huh? Is there something off about her attack pattern?”

“It’s quite possible that she intends to trick us up for trying the same trick twice. Keep an eye out.”

The two braced themselves as the wind picked back up. Hanamaru kept an eye over her shoulder as she waited for Hanayo’s head to appear. A ball gradually started to assemble behind her, forming into the shape of her head. Hanayo looked up in surprise as they made eye contact.

“Don’t underestimate me because I don’t have a stand like Dia’s!” She taunted as she prepared to spit the rock out at her.

“Hanamaru, above you!” Dia warned suddenly.

Hanamaru looked up to see a barrage of rocks flying her way. The rocks were too close to properly dodge or guard, causing her to fall forwards from the impact. She managed to keep one hand out of the sand, but her right hand fell into the sand and got caught.

“I would much rather overestimate my opponent rather than underestimate them.” Hanayo replied. “However, with my friend’s lives at stake, I will do everything in my power to stop you.” 

Hanamaru attempted to attack her, but Hanayo dissolved into sand before her shot could harm her.

“Damn it!”

“Hanamaru, calm yourself!” Dia reassured. “She might’ve gotten the best of you that time, but that doesn’t mean you can’t predict her next action.”

“We both know what she plans to do, she wants to finish me off for sure! I don’t think one rock will be enough to stop her if I can’t find her in time!”

“Find her? There’s only two places where she could be, and I have one covered.”

“What do you mean? She could reform anywhere! If she’s too far away, there’s no way we can stop her!”

Dia folded her arms and started giggling to herself.

“W-What’s so funny, zura?”

“Tell me, why do you think she decided to come so close to us to begin with?”

“To hide from your  **Smooth Criminal** , correct?”

“I doubt that Hanayo knew of my stand prior to this, so it was more likely she wanted to hide from us in general. There’s no reason she’d get close to us because of range either. My stand’s range is 5 meters, but I can barely reach you with it, not to mention her control of the sand stretches far beyond both of us. Her range has to be at the very least 10 meters, although it most likely goes even further.”

“Then why didn’t she hide far away from us, zura?”

“Tell me, what do you know about Hanayo Koizumi?”

“I know she’s shy, she’s friends with the girl named Rin, and uh…” she trailed off.

“That may be true, but you’re missing out on a crucial trait of hers. She’s nearsighted. Normally she wears either glasses or contact lenses, but it seems she can’t do so with her stand. Glasses and contacts wouldn’t be something she could keep track of, and the fact she has to reform means she can’t detect us while transformed. She has no choice but to get close to even see us!”

“So you’re saying the only two places she could be…”

“...are behind me and over you. If we can cover both of those options, she will be in range!”

Hanamaru grabbed a rock from her back and slurped it up. The two prepared themselves as the wind began to blow harder.

“Here she comes, Hanamaru!”

Looking up, she saw a bunch of rocks forming and another ball of sand manifesting. Hanamaru got ready to fire as Hanayo’s face was reformed. 

_ “Your fate is sealed, Hanayo!” _

A barrage of rocks suddenly smashed into Dia’s back, sending her flying forwards into the quicksand.

“D-Dia!!!” Hanamaru shouted.

“Did you really think I could only attack with rocks from one direction?” Hanayo explained. “I was just waiting for the perfect opportunity when you’d let your guard down. Now I have you both under my complete control!”

Hanayo launched her assault of rocks from the front at them both, forcing Dia to deflect them with  **Smooth Criminal** . 

“Since you both are about to die, I’ll let you in on a little secret. I may not have been able to see you when I transformed into sand, but I can still tell where the sand I manipulate goes. When the wind runs against your bodies, the sand is blocked from moving directly forward. Although I couldn’t see you, from the places the sand stopped, I could tell where to reform myself. I was analysing the battlefield before you even summoned your stands!”

The wild whirled around again as Hanayo prepared for her next attack.

“Your  **Smooth Criminal** is a nuisance to me. My next attack will be the last one I need to finish you off.”

“Like hell I’m going to let you finish us off!” Dia yelled as she sent  **Smooth Criminal** towards Hanayo. 

Hanayo quickly dodged out of the way of the punches and moved several meters away. 

_ “S-She moved out of my range!” _

“I already got all the information I need.” Hanayo explained as the winds started to swirl around them once more. “You were the first two people I’ve attacked with my stand, so the first few attacks were mostly experimental. However, I know perfectly well how to kill you while maintaining a safe distance!”

“Dia, above you!”

Looking up, Dia noticed three large pointed rocks forming above her. 

“You can deflect one of those, but only barely!” Hanayo announced triumphantly. “Three of them is more than enough to crush you!”

“Dia, get out of there!”

“I would if I could, but the quicksand has me completely pinned down. I can’t move anything but my arm.”

“Reach your arm towards me! I’ll try to pull you out!”

The two linked hands, doing their best to pull each other closer as the rocks above her were almost formed. Hanamaru pulled as hard as she could to get Dia out of the sand, but she could barely move her an inch.

“Your time is up!  **Raising Sand** has already finished creating the rocks! I’ll crush you flat!”

The rocks hurtled towards Dia, which she tried in vain to hit back with  **Smooth Criminal** . Hanamaru did her best to pull, but it didn’t help Dia at all. All three rocks crashed down into the sand with a powerful thud. The air grew quiet as the wind died down. Hanayo cautiously approached the scene, floating near the rocks sitting in the sand. 

“I...I did it. I defeated her.”

Hanamaru didn’t respond, sitting still in the sand.

“She’s been completely swallowed up by the sand. The force of the rocks and being buried in quicksand is more than enough to have eliminated her.”

Turning to Hanamaru, Hanayo saw her staring up at her with a glare.

“Normally I wouldn’t think to kill anyone, but you’ve shown me the desire to kill us. Don’t take it personally, but I’ll have to end you too.”

The wind blew once more as Hanayo prepared her final attack.

“ **Raising Sand** ! Bury her into groun-”

Hanayo was interrupted as a hand suddenly grabbed onto her head.

“W-What the-!?”

“You were right, Dia was swallowed up.” Hanamaru revealed. “However, you were too far away to see that it wasn’t the sand that swallowed her.”

Dia landed in the sand, only her feet sinking into it. Her stand pulled back its arm to throw Hanayo’s head like a baseball.

“I was the one who swallowed Dia!”

Dia threw Hanayo’s head with a mighty throw, sending her hurtling towards Hanamaru. Face turned to her, Hanayo watched in horror as Hanamaru opened her mouth wide.

_ “I’ve got to return to sand before her lips touch me!” _

Hanayo tried her best, but the speed that she was thrown at was too fast for her to break apart in time.

“D-Don’t eat me!!!”

Hanayo smacked into Hanamaru’s face, turning more rubbery as her head made contact. Hanamaru quickly slurped her head inside her mouth.

_ Gulp. _

The winds swirling around them settled, the sand particles either falling to the ground or clumping together. The clumped pieces reformed into split up portions of her body, now laying still on the ground. 

“If an object is split up, I will only swallow a portion of it. Since my stand only swallowed her head, the rest of her body returned to normal. However, still being separate, she’s essentially been decapitated.”

The sand underneath them returned to normal sand, allowing her to stand up and unbury herself. Spitting out Hanayo’s head, it landed a few meters away, completely lifeless.

“You may have your friends to protect, but I also have friends I wish to defend. I’m sorry Hanayo, but it seems  **Maneater** was the stand to come out on top, zura.”

* * *

Stand User: Hanamaru Kunikida

Stand Name:  **Maneater**

Stand Stats:

Strength - C | Speed - B | Range - E | Durability - A | Precision - C | Potential - A

Ability:

Anything that touches her lips will become thin and deflated, then sucked inside her mouth into a void and put in mental/physical limbo. The object is not damaged during the process but cannot escape until Hanamaru releases them or is killed. Only one object can be consumed at a time, and is limited in size to about a small car. Stands can also be eaten and eating a user/stand nullifies the connection between the two until release.

* * *

The sound of footsteps echoed as a girl made her way down the hall of a steel ship. She carried an unlabeled bottle in her hands, eyes watching the various doors with a blank expression. She stopped at one of them, slowly opening it without knocking. The room was completely dark except for the ray of light coming inside through the open door.

“Oi, Rin.”

The girl in one of the beds didn’t respond.

“Have this, it’ll help.” She said as she let the liquid in the bottle slosh around.

“Leave me alone…” Rin responded in a weak voice.

“It helps me. Go on, take it.”

Rin once again refused to reply.

“Fine, more for me.”

She shut the door gently, sighing quietly to herself as she walked away. She made her way into the empty dining quarters and sat down on a bench against the wall. She took a swig of the liquid directly from the bottle, exhaling lightly as she lowered it back down.

_ “At least it doesn’t taste too bad.” _

Her attention was drawn as the door opened once more, another girl walking inside.

“Oh, hey Nico.” The girl in the doorway said in surprise. “I didn’t expect you to be here.”

“My attempt at cheering up Rin didn’t exactly work.” Nico explained. “She just wants to be left alone right now.”

“I don’t blame her. She just lost her best friend after all.”

“Tell me about it, Maki. My entire family is dead. I used to be able to spring up in the morning at the thought of just putting a smile on their faces. Nowadays I can barely motivate myself to get out of bed.”

“We just have to keep believing that we can make it out of this alive.”

“And go back to what?” Nico said bitterly. “My home was completely destroyed. The only reason we have this boat is because we seized control of it in the middle of all that carnage. Either I’ll spend the rest of my life in prison or I’ll die hungry on the streets.”

“Nico, I’m not going to let that happen! I have more than enough money to help you!”

“Maki, I-”

“Nico, please!” Maki said as she gripped Nico’s shoulder. “I don’t want you to give up on yourself!”

“Alright, fine. Please just don’t yell at me like that.”

“I-I’m sorry. It’s just...I don’t want to lose you too.”

Nico sighed and took another gulp from her bottle.

“H-Hey, where did you get that? I don’t remember seeing that in our rations.”

“It’s not from our rations.”

“What do you-” Maki started, cutting herself off as she sniffed at it. “Is this alcohol!?”

Nico hardened her expression.

“What else am I supposed to use  **Dr. Feelgood** for?”

“Y-Your stand made this?”

“I found out after testing it a bit myself. I was thinking we should end those bastards once and for all.”

“Nico, you better not be thinking of going there alone! You’ll be killed!”

“Who says I’m going alone? We’ve lost in past battles because we were outnumbered and outwitted. Kotori only chose to attack them alone because she figured she’d be able to kill any stand users there without endangering the rest of us. Hanayo left on her own accord without telling anyone else she was leaving. If we have more than one person attack them at once, we’re much more likely to get rid of them once and for all.”

“Nico, you heard what Eli said to us. She doesn’t want any of us to leave the ship until we can come up with a good plan of attack!”

“Who’s she, our boss? I do have a plan, and I’m not going to haphazardly attack them by myself. I’d appreciate your aid in this, Maki.”

“M-Me?”

“To be honest, your stand terrifies me. If we were to work together, we’d be able to kill them all in their sleep.”

“Nico, I’m not so sure about this. Do you promise we’ll be ok?”

“We’ll have their heads, I promise.”

* * *

Stand User: Hanayo Koizumi

Stand Name:  **Raising Sand**

Stand Stats:

Strength - E | Speed - B | Range - C | Durability - A | Precision - C | Potential - D

Ability:

Manipulates sand to her will. Range is 20 meters. The user can also turn completely into sand but she cannot visually perceive anything while her eyes are transformed. Anything the sand touches while moving however can act as a way of detection.


	9. Nico's Gambit - Part 1

Chapter 9: Nico’s Gambit - Part 1

The rain fell hard against the walls of the building. Yoshiko looked outside into the darkness with a blank expression, not able to see anything beyond the heavy rain. 

_ “Boy am I glad I don’t have to go out there. It’s already cold enough, being cold AND wet sounds miserable.” _

Yoshiko looked down at her side to see a small figure standing next to her. It looked up and met her gaze with an emotionless expression.

_ “ _ **_The Unforgiven_ ** _ looks just like I used to when I was little...except for the horns. If our stands are manifestations of ourselves...does this mean I’m childish? Am I looking at this disaster the wrong way? I told myself after Kotori’s death that it was her fault for attacking us, but somehow that answer doesn’t sit well with me. Regardless of what she did, I ultimately was responsible for killing her. It’s not like I wanted to kill her. If she’d left us alone, I’d never have even considered attacking to begin with, but we had no choice but to defend ourselves. Still though…” _

She was snapped out of her train of thought at the sound of approaching footsteps. Holding up her flashlight, she shined it at the person who was walking towards her. Riko put her hands in front of her face to block out the blinding light.

“H-Hey! Watch where you’re shining that thing!”

“Sorry, sorry. I was just making sure you weren’t an enemy or anything.”   
  
“It’s pouring outside. What makes you think they’d attack us now?”

“Fair enough. Not to mention, if you were out in the rain, you wouldn’t reek as much as you do.”

“H-Hey! Don’t say I reek you jerk!”

“I’m just being honest, you really do smell. When was the last time you showered?”

“I could ask you the same question.”

“Well, I suppose I got a little wet washing Chika’s clothes earlier today. I had to get out...you know...the blood.”

“...”

“Riko, can I ask you something?”

“Go ahead.”   
  
“Do you think...we’re also to blame for this?”

“To blame? For what?”

“If I hadn’t used  **The Unforgiven** on Kotori, she might not have died. I know I was just doing what I could to help You, but…”

“Why didn’t you remove your stand’s effect from her then?”   
  
“I was too focused on protecting the lives of us from her. I didn’t expect her to crash on the rocks like she did. Her death left me with this overwhelming feeling of guilt that I just can’t seem to shake.”

“You can’t justify murder. The more lives you take, the bigger that hole is going to grow.”

“It’s not like I want to kill, I just don’t have a choice if it means saving my friends.”

“...”

“I’m sorry about this depressing conversation. Would you mind walking with me while I do my last perimeter check of the night?”

“No problem at all. Let’s head towards the hole in the wall, that’s probably the most likely place for a potential attack. Come on, follow me.”

Riko began to jog down the hallway ahead of Yoshiko.

“Hey, not so fast! Wait up!”

The two passed by a hallway that ran down the middle of the building. Riko ran past it without second thought, but Yoshiko stopped as she looked down the corridor. 

“Riko...there’s a light coming out of one of the doorways. Do we have any candles or anything here?”

“I believe so. You should probably shut it off so we don’t waste any electricity.”

“Electricity? But we have no electricity here besides from our generator.”

“That light is probably from the generator then.”

“A light on the generator? I don’t remember there being-”

Yoshiko’s eyes suddenly widened as she saw the source of light: A rag on fire stuffed into what looked to be a bottle. A figure stood holding it, the glow from the fire revealing their face.

“R-Riko! We’re under attack!” Yoshiko warned. “Get away from-”

She was cut off as Riko gave her a hard shove back towards the hallway. Unable to react, she fell backwards onto the floor with a thud. Looking up, she saw the bottle flying her way, the lit rag dipped into the liquid inside.

_ “T-That’s a...molotov cocktail!” _

The bottle exploded near her, sending her tumbling backwards into the wall. Shrapnel cut into her body, leaving several scars across the front of her chest, legs and arms. She turned her head to Riko, frightened.

“Riko, why did you shove me!? The user is down the hallway!”

“Oh don’t worry, I was attacking the enemy stand user. At least...my enemy that is.”

A blue glowing line began to run down Riko’s head, forming a completely different head shape. As it ran down the length of her body, Riko’s Uranohoshi uniform was replaced with entirely different clothing. With the flashlight shattered in the explosion, Yoshiko couldn’t make out the face of the user in the dark.

“Like I said earlier, you can’t justify murder. But in these chaotic times, what’s right just doesn’t seem to cut it, now does it? All that matters to me is avenging my fallen friends and protecting those who are still alive. If you yourself wish to do the same, you’d best hope that my  **Def Leppard** doesn’t fool you again.”

She walked down the hall away from her and into the dark.

“Hey, wait-”

“Don’t even think about going after her!”

Nico stepped out into the hall, illuminated by the glow of another lit molotov in her hand. 

“Tell me, your stand is  **The Unforgiven** , isn’t it? That surprised look on your face certainly tells me so.”

_ “H-How did she know my stand? The only person who should know would be Kotori and You, but both are dead and Kotori didn’t have any devices of communication on her! Did...did You somehow communicate it to them? No, that can’t be it. There must be something else at play we aren’t aware of. But what?” _

“Confused are you? You’ll have all the time to think about it when you’re dead!”

She tossed the second molotov at Yoshiko, exploding close enough to cause more serious damage to her. Blasted to the side, she fell bleeding profusely to the floor.

“Not so tough when I’m out of your range are you?” Nico mocked with a smug grin.

_ “Crap, my stand can’t beat her in this kind of battle. She’ll kill me before I can even get close enough to touch her. I have to get back and warn the others!” _

Yoshiko struggled to get to her feet, limping down the hall as fast as she could while leaning against the wall. 

“Trying to run for help are you? That’s not gonna happen!”

Nico’s stand formed behind her, revealing a metallic stand with various glowing lights on it. It looked like it wore a maid’s outfit and had some sort of cylindrical compartment in its chest. The compartment opened up, revealing a new bottle with a hiss of steam. Nico grabbed it by the top of the bottle and tapped the base of it on her hand like a bat. 

“ **Dr. Feelgood** can provide me with as much alcohol as I desire, even creating new bottles to contain them within. All I need is a rag and a little fire, and I’ve got myself a supply of molotov cocktails at a moment’s notice! Even without molotovs, I’ve got myself an infinite supply of weapons to handle!” 

Nico threw the bottle at Yoshiko, shattering against the wall just near her head.

“I’m going to finish you here. I won’t give you the chance to alert any of your friends.”

“Not alert them? Maybe you should’ve considered that thought before you threw around explosives!”

“Do you think I’m that stupid? Once I’ve taken care of you, this place is going up in flames. By the time your friends find out what’s happening, they’ll be done for. I couldn’t care less if they heard the explosions!”

_ “Her face...I can’t see a shred of remorse on it. She’s more than resolved to kill us all for her friends, just like Kotori was. I think whoever was imitating Riko might’ve been right, nobody can justify murder. Killing her...killing me...there’s no good here. There’s no good here…” _

Nico grabbed another bottle and rushed at her. 

“You won’t get away!”

Right as she got close enough, Yoshiko used her arm against the wall to quickly push herself away from it. Using her other arm, she was just barely able to touch Nico’s torso with the tips of her fingers.

“I’ve touched you! Now  **The Unforgiven** will go into effect!”

Right as she finished her sentence, Nico’s bottle smashed against her head and knocked her to the floor.

_ “W-What!? I’m sure I touched her! She should’ve missed me!” _

Nico folded her arms and looked down at Yoshiko with a sinister grin. 

“You know, I couldn’t care less about your stand’s effect on me. A stand that gives bad luck might’ve been more useful if this was a one on one encounter, but unfortunately for you, we’re not playing around anymore. Even if I die in this fire, our plan is already in motion.”

Looking over her shoulder, Yoshiko saw the hallway starting to catch fire.

“The fire from the molotovs has already engulfed the alcohol I splattered around from my various attacks. Soon, this whole building will be ablaze! Even with your stand, you have no hope of stopping it!”

Yoshiko looked up helplessly as Nico grabbed another bottle from her stand.

“I suppose there’s no harm in trying to finish you off here. Your life ends here!”

Yoshiko noticed an indent in Nico’s cheek. Nico took a second to notice it too, feeling it with her fingers.

“W-What’s with my-”

Nico suddenly was knocked down like her head had been hit hard on the side. She fell on her back, visible confusion on her damaged face.

_ “What just...happened?”  _ Yoshiko thought to herself, stunned.  _ “Something hit her left cheek, but I didn’t see a fist or anything strike her.” _

Unintentionally, she brought her hand up to her own cheek and rubbed the spot that had been hit by the bottle. She suddenly took the hand away from her cheek in realization.

_ “That hit her in the same place she hit me! But how?  _ **_The Unforgiven_ ** _ doesn’t behave like that at all, so how did-” _

Yoshiko paused as she noticed another pair of arms just below hers. She jolted up onto her knees in an upright position as she looked at the strange arms in surprise.

_ “These arms have to belong to a stand, but they’re coming out of my own body! They look identical to my stand’s, but these as long as my own arms. Did...my stand mature?” _

Attempting to summon her stand, the arms formed together with a body that also emerged. Although slightly damaged, the stand was almost a mirror image of herself with the exception of two crimson horns on its head. It wore a dress with various spiky extensions that gave it a sinister presence. It gazed down at Yoshiko with an empty stare, devoid of emotion, much like it used to. Even though it had no will of its own, the blank stare on its face almost appeared to be observing her.

_ “Now that I think about it, stands are manifestations of the user, so perhaps our stands can change with changes to ourselves.” _

Nico got back to her feet, rubbing her cheek as she glared at Yoshiko. 

“So your stand decided to change, huh? No big deal, it still won’t be able to put out the fire, much less stop me!”

Nico sent  **Dr. Feelgood** towards her, arms open to grab onto her.

“Your ability seems to reciprocate damage, but me and the fire are two seperate objects. Once I capture you, I’ll just drag you into the fire. Your new ability is useless against my stand!”

“We’ll see about that! Go,  **The Unforgiven, Act 2** !”

**Dr. Feelgood** lunged at her, but  **The Unforgiven** dodged quickly out of the way and retaliated with a strong punch to the gut.

_ “S-She’s fast!” _

**The Unforgiven** jumped back, standing in a fighting stance.

“You’re getting too cocky, Nico. My stand clearly has superior speed to yours. If you stop here, I will not kill you, but if you force my hand I will strike you down without hesitation.”

Nico narrowed her eyes, assuming a fighting stance herself.

“Stop here? If I thought this was a bad idea, I wouldn’t be here to begin with! This wasn’t a choice I made but a choice I was forced to see through. Regardless, I will not falter!”

“Come at me then!  **The Unfo** -”

She was cut short as a powerful impact struck her in the chest.

_ “W-What!?” _

The force of the impact sent her flying backwards down the hall. Nico grinned smugly in realization.

“What awful luck you must have to get a stand that retaliates its own attacks against itself, I almost pity you!”

She ran down the hall after Yoshiko, who was still mid-flight.

“You’re completely powerless to stop me! It’s time for you to die!”

Suddenly, Yoshiko’s body disappeared midair. Nico stopped running after her, staring down the dark corridor in confusion.

_ “She’s completely vanished...but how? The light from the fire gave me enough light to see her the whole time! Maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me, she has to be around there somewhere!” _

Running down the hall, Nico failed to see any sign of her, even after looking around the corner she would’ve landed near.

_ “Damn it...this might be another user’s ability! I was only careless about making noise because I was confident I’d be able to kill whoever was on nightwatch before torching this place. Why did it have to be pouring on tonight of all nights? It was much calmer back at the ship. Now I have to find the user before-” _

Her train of thought was cut short as an invisible pair of hands grabbed her. More specifically, the hands groped her chest.

“W-Wha-”

The hands quickly let go before Nico could think how to retaliate. 

“Get your hands off me!” Nico yelled in surprise, making  **Dr. Feelgood** attack the air behind her. Unfortunately for her, the stand’s punches collided with nothing. 

_ “There was someone there a second ago, but I couldn’t hit them let alone see them. I know only stand users can see other stands, but this is something different entirely! They must be concealing themselves from me...but how?” _

She grabbed another bottle, throwing it at the floor.

_ “The glass shards could help me locate her. If she tries getting close, they’ll crunch underfoot and give away her location. Then I’ll be able to retaliate!” _

Nico threw another bottle at the ground behind her. Then farther in front. Then farther behind. Nico held a broken bottle’s top as she kept an eye out for any noise. Standing completely still, the only sound she could hear was the rainfall on the building. 

_ “Looks like my trap is working a bit too well. I’m never going to be able to get rid of her if we don’t approach each other. But...if she’s not near me, where is she?” _

She snapped back to attention as the glow of the fire suddenly disappeared. Turning around, she saw the fire had been completely put out, now nothing but a lone trail of smoke.

“T-The fire!”

She started to rush towards it, but stopped herself barely a footstep forward. 

_ “Hold on, this feels fishy. I can’t feel any heat from this far away, but I didn’t even hear the fire go out. I want to investigate it, but...I have a bad feeling that it’s some sort of trap.” _

Her gaze went towards her hand as she saw movement. Her bottle had transformed into a short vine with various thorns, topped with a carnivorous mouth with nail-like teeth. 

“W-What the hell is that!?  **Dr. Feelgood** !”

The stand chopped at the stem of the plant, but to her surprise, it phased right through it. In a panic, she threw the plant onto the floor, shattering it. The plant quickly dissolved into the air.

_ “This has to be some kind of illusion. There’s no way a stand could have this much variation in its ability. It’s the best way I can think to explain the fire going out without a sound. However, it seems like your stand isn’t good at physically hurting me.” _

She hardened her gaze as she took another bottle in hand.

_ “Whoever you are, your tricks won’t be able to stop me any longer!” _

* * *

Stand User: Nico Yazawa

Stand Name:  **Dr. Feelgood**

Stand Stats:

Strength - C | Speed - C | Range - D | Durability - C | Precision - D | Potential - D

Ability:

Creates alcohol of any kind and can create new alcohol at infinium. It can also form them in bottles or glasses of its own creation, but cannot form the glass separately. Bottles are created within a chest cavity of the stand, but it can also directly dispense from two nozzles at the ends of its “twintails” on the stand’s head.


	10. Nico's Gambit - Part 2

Chapter 10: Nico’s Gambit - Part 2

Glass crunched under Nico’s shoes as she stepped over the shattered glass. Looking down both hallways, she attempted to find any evidence of her foe.

_ “I can’t hear anything over the sound of the downpour. This is really starting to anger me!” _

She grabbed a bottle and shattered the base of it against a wall.

“Where the hell are you!? Show yourself, damn it!”

Nico grabbed the corner wall, letting  **Dr. Feelgood** step out into the middle of the hallway. The valves on the side of its head resembling twintails rotated forward.

“Ready!” Nico called out as she raised her arm up, like a sergeant commanding troops to prepare to shoot.

“Fire!!!”

As Nico swung down her arm, both nozzles blasted alcohol in the direction of the fire. In reaction, a huge blast of heat and force erupted from its direction. Right as the heat assaulted her, the fire became visible once more. Nico had to cover her eyes as the scorching smoke stung them. Amidst the chaos, Nico could hear a yelp and a crash as someone collided with the wall behind her. Wiping her eyes with her sleeve, Nico turned around. The intense glow of the fire made her able to get a good look at her foe. 

“You’re not Yoshiko. I’m not sure if I should trust what I see, but that squeal you made didn’t sound like her either. Tell me, who are you?”

“Oh? You want me to tell you my name?”

“I’m not asking. I’m commanding you. Perhaps I’ll relay it to your friends once I’ve killed you.”

“Oooooo, confidence!~”

“I think you fail to see how dire your situation truly is. Look around you. You’re surrounded by shattered glass. When it cracks underfoot, I’ll be able to find you regardless of whether or not you hide yourself. Move a muscle, and I’ll kill you. I’ll ask again, what is your name?”

“Alright, alright, I’ll tell you. My name is-”   
  
She suddenly made a shocked expression and pointed towards the fire.

“Oh my god! What is that thing!?”

Nico narrowed her eyes and took a small step closer.

“Do you think I’m a fool? I’m not going to fall for something like that!”

“No, seriously! Look behind you!”

Nico locked eyes with her, gritting her teeth in irritation.

_ “She’s underestimating me! If she thinks something like this will-” _

Nico noticed something out of the corner of her eye, seeming to come from just behind her. Much like a person looking over your shoulder, she could tell something was there but couldn’t see or hear it. Her face started to tense up.

“What’s the matter? I thought you said you weren’t going to look?”

“T-This is one of your tricks! There’s nothing but fire behind me!”

“You’re awfully flustered for someone claiming to be in total control.”

“S-Shut up! Identify yourself!”

“Make me.”

“Why you little-”

Nico in her anger began to step closer and closer to her. She angrily held the bottle up to threaten her. 

“If you have any last words, I’d suggest you say them now.”

“You want my last words or my name? You’re really confusing, you know that?”

“That’s it! You’re dead!”

Nico lunged her bottle forward to stab her head, but as it lunged forward the girl faded and the bottle hit the wall instead.

“Using your ability are you? Nice try, but I have you cornered-”

Her gaze shifted quickly at the sound of something disturbing the glass towards the fire.

_ “The glass...no, I can’t be! She should be right in front of me!” _

Nico stomped in the area in front of her, finding the girl to have vanished.

“Crap, that really is her!  **Dr. Feelgood** !”

Nico ran towards where the glass had been distrubed, her stand punching around the area. No matter where it punched however, its fists collided with nothing but the glass and wooden floor. Her attention snapped back as footsteps ran across the glass shards she’d laid out towards the other hallway.

_ “That was a diversion! But how? If she didn’t disturb the glass, what did?” _

Snapping back to attention, she began to chase after the girl. Following the thumping of her footsteps, Nico was able to make out where she was. Nico grinned.

“Nice try, but you’re still within my range!”   
  


**Dr. Feelgood** grabbed a bottle from itself and made it roll near the feet of her target. Stepping on the bottle by accident, the girl tripped and fell to the floor with a thud. Nico quickly got within a meter of her, well within the range of her stand’s fists.

“Enough of your running! Just die!”

Sitting up and turning towards Nico, an aura began to surround her. Various small rotating objects that resembled small mirrors floated in midair, beginning to glow with a white light. 

_ “T-There’s so many of them! There has to be at least 100 of them!” _

“ **Good Vibrations** !”

The mirrors began to face Nico as they started to glow brighter and brighter.

“Shinyyyyy!~”

With an intensely bright flash, the mirrors created a powerful blast of light that Nico had to shield her eyes from. Nico had to blink her eyes rapidly as her eyes readjusted slowly to the darkness. When her sight returned, the girl was nowhere to be found.

_ “I know what her stand does now, it uses those mirrors to affect the light around it. She must have used one of them to disturb the glass shards earlier. But she could be anywhere, and hiding fire anywhere. I could use this chance to escape...but I can’t risk a user like that staying alive. I have to kill her myself!” _

Her attention was drawn to the sound of creaking from the stairs heading upwards. Letting her gaze harden, she crept towards them cautiously. The footsteps ascended it slowly and cautiously. Nico clung to the wall near it and readied herself.

_ “Move carefully...you never know what she might be hiding up there.” _

She climbed slowly, attempting to make as little noise as possible. Considering the age of the building however, this was not an easy task. As she reached the top, Nico noticed that the other girl was standing there completely visible several meters away.

“I almost blind you and you still want to fight me? You’re persistent, I’ll give you that.”

“Don’t play games with me. If you don’t say your name, I will personally make any snarky comeback your last words.”

“Fine, fine. My name is Mari Ohara. Pleased to meet you.~”

“Mari, huh? Well then Mari, are you prepared to die?”

“Isn’t this like the fifth time you’ve told me that? You ought to mix up your vocabulary a bit.”

“My vocabulary is the least of your concern. Now that I know how your stand works, you don’t stand a chance against  **Dr. Feelgood** .”

“It’s bold of you to assume that I haven’t been observing you either.” Mari said as she held up her index finger. “I was there hiding when you attacked Yoshiko. I saw it all, heard it all.  **Def Leppard** sounds like quite a good stand for playing mind games with. Perhaps you should’ve been more careful about waking up the rest of us, because you revealed something crucial to me. There’s three of you attacking, isn’t there?”

Nico failed to hide the shock in her expression.

“You were more than happy to throw molotovs at Yoshiko, but you didn’t bother to create any more once you were in plain sight. The user who’s creating that fire isn’t you, and it can’t be  **Def Leppard** either. If you don’t want that information to get to my allies, I’d suggest you kill me as soon as you can.”

Turning her back to Nico, Mari slapped her butt with her hand tauntingly. Giving in to her temper, Nico ran at her.

“Why you little-”

Nico’s foot phased through the floor, tumbling full force through the large hole. Before she could comprehend what was happening, she fell into the kitchen from above and fell onto a table. Her momentum made her roll off the table and crash to the floor. She laid on the floor, groaning as she shakily sat up.

_ “Damn that Mari...I need to get out of here before-” _

Her thoughts were cut short when she noticed that flames were already bursting in.

_ “This is bad...one of my arms got badly injured in that fall, so I can’t pull myself back up. All my exits are blocked off. I need to get that fire out!” _

She ran over to the sink, but no water came out of the faucet when turned on. 

_ “I’m trapped! If I can’t put out the fire, I’m as good as dead!”  _

She attempted to break through a wall with her stand, but her punches did little besides making a few dents.

“It’s no use, I can’t break through!”

She rummaged around the kitchen, but most of it was completely empty. All she could find was a small hand towel sitting beside the sink. She grabbed it as  **Dr. Feelgood** produced another bottle. She climbed up onto the table in the center of the room, using her good hand to shove the rag into the top of the bottle. The stand placed the bottle near the fire and let the old rag ignite. 

“I figured the rain was a curse to prevent us from setting this place aflame, but it seems like it’s my blessing. If I can’t get out of this room, I’ll blow the roof off and let the rain in!  **Dr. Feelgood** !”

With a powerful toss, it threw the bottle up through the hole and up to the ceiling of the second floor. With a powerful explosion, the roof was blown clean off and allowed the rain to come pouring in. Hopping off the table, Nico watched as a torrent of water began to keep the fire at bay. Using her stand’s fist, she broke the legs on the table, turning it into a ramp. The water ran down it and into the fire, extinguishing it enough to allow Nico to escape the kitchen.

_ “That was a close call...looks like I’ll have to find those two again. Why’d this mission have to be such a huge mess?” _

* * *

“Chika, wake up!”

Chika was startled awake by Riko aggressively shaking her. 

“W-What’s going on, is there a stand attack?”

“I don’t know, but...the building is on fire!”

Chika quickly jumped out of bed and opened the door to her room, only to find a raging fire outside her door. The other two rooms were out of the fire’s range, and Dia was helping to guide the rest of them out of the building.

“Chika, there’s nothing but fire around your doorway!” Dia yelled. “Get back in your room before it spreads inside!”

Chika quickly slammed the door shut, but fire was already creeping its way under the door.

“Eeeeeeek!” Riko yelled in horror. “The flames are already coming in! We’re trapped!” 

Acting fast, Chika grabbed her mattress and dragged it down onto the floor next to the door. It quickly ignited, spreading flame across the top of it.. 

“Chika, are you crazy!? What on earth are you-”

“Riko, do you recall what my  **Tangerine Dream** ’s ability is?”

“Y-Yeah, it absorbs energy, correct?”

“Exactly. When a fire burns something, it releases a lot of energy. So like a large battery, what do you think happens when a large source of energy powers up my stand?”

Chika summoned  **Tangerine Dream** , which began to glow bright with absorbed energy. 

“I obviously don’t know the exact speed and power, so I suppose you don’t mind if I try to test it out?”

“S-Sure, go right ahead.” Riko said, stepping back with a nervous smile.

“Alright, let’s give this a shot.  **Tangerine Dream** !”

**_“GAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAHHH!!!”_ **

The barrage of fists busted effortlessly through the wall, even sending the bed beside the wall crashing into the bed on the opposite end of the room. Chika hopped through the massive hole in the wall with a playful hop.

“Come on Riko, let’s get moving!”

“R-Right.”

The two of them ran up to Dia, who was standing near the front entrance. Seeing the two of them out of their rooms made Dia ease up a little bit.

“You two should get outside. We’re leaving.”

“Is everyone ok?” Riko asked with concern.

“The bedrooms are empty, but Mari and Yoshiko are still unaccounted for. They must still be somewhere in this building. Yoshiko was on her shift last, and Mari was supposed to start her own at some point tonight. My guess is they’re fighting enemy stand users, or...”

“No, I won’t even consider that.” Chika said firmly. “I’m going to help find those two and escape!”

Dia grabbed her shoulder firmly and looked her dead in the eyes.

“Chika, this is too dangerous. Let me handle this.”

“I can use the energy of the fire to bust through walls. If they’re stuck, I could get them out. Please, let me help them!”

“...fine. Just promise you’ll be safe.”

Chika nodded. Dia and Riko retreated out the front door, leaving Chika by herself in the burning building.

_ “Mari...Yoshiko...please be ok.” _

* * *

Stand User: Mari Ohara

Stand Name:  **Good Vibrations**

Stand Stats:

Stats: Strength - D | Speed - A | Range - A | Durability - E | Precision - A | Potential - A

Ability: 

Colony stand of several floating mirrors. Alters the wavelengths of light around it. Can change any wavelength to another, even creating its own wavelengths need be. Although it has a short range of 15 Meters, the effects of the stand can be shown for miles due to the nature of light itself. 


	11. Nico's Gambit - Part 3

Chapter 11: Nico’s Gambit - Part 3

“Why’d they have to attack in the middle of a storm like this?” Kanan complained aloud. 

“If we don’t get out of here, this storm will be the least of your worries.” Hanamaru said under her breath.

“H-Hey, there’s big sis over there!” Ruby said as she pointed towards the building.

The three girls looked up to see Dia and Riko jogging towards them.

“Big sis! Is everyone ok?”

“All the bedrooms are empty, but the others are still somewhere in the building. Chika volunteered to go after the other two, so she’s at least accounted for.”

“She went back in!?” Kanan shouted fearfully. “That thing could come down at any moment!” 

“Either me or Chika would have to search around inside for the others. I opted to keep the exterior monitored since I’m the only one with night vision.”

“But-”

“I understand your concern Kanan, but Chika’s  **Tangerine Dream** is better suited to a rescue mission than my stand. Besides, it was her idea. You know how stubborn she can be, we don’t have time to waste worrying about details. Every second that building still stands is a blessing.”

“Dia, is this really a good idea?”   
  
“Can you please just get the boat started already?”

“I’m working on it. I’ll just need a minute to get the engine running smoothly.”

“Good. You all stay by the boat, ok?”

The rest of them nodded, following after Kanan. Dia turned towards the building and summoned her stand.

“ **Smooth Criminal** !”

The stand whirred and clicked as it changed to night vision. Scanning around the building, she saw nothing but a small empty lifeboat on the shore.

_ “That’s a rather small boat to take across the ocean, especially in the middle of the night. It’s no doubt the way they got here, but traversing the ocean right now in that tiny thing would be suicide.” _

Dia gripped her fist as an unsettling revelation came over her.

_ “They have another boat.” _

* * *

“Yoshiko! Mari! Where are you?”

The deafening sound of the rain and crackling of fire was all that filled her ears.

“Hey! Is anyone there!?” Chika called out again.

Chika stopped as a figure stepped out from the central corridor. Yoshiko’s face was illuminated partially by the glow of fire down the central hallway. 

“Hey, it’s-”

Yoshiko cut her off by shushing her with a finger to her lip. She motioned to follow after her quietly. Yoshiko speed-walked down the hall, Chika following behind her cautiously. Glancing down the hall, she noticed the huge blaze that had now engulfed the central pathway. Only seeing it for a moment, she failed to react to a molotov being thrown her way. The bottle exploded, knocking Chika backwards into the wall. The figure laughed.

“I can’t believe the same trick I used on Yoshiko worked twice!” Nico mocked. “I thought you all were supposed to be smart, but it seems you were all just lucky until now. Looks like Nico Yazawa has to teach you girls a lesson.” 

She quickly grabbed another bottle and threw it Chika’s way.

“Your feeble stands are no match for  **Dr. Feelgood** !”

Before the bottle made contact, Chika’s aura quickly flared to life.

“Now!  **Tangerine Dream** !”

It grabbed the bottle mid-air by the neck, spinning with the momentum to hurl it back at Nico. It struck her hard in the chest, knocking her off balance and coating her in alcohol. Chika seized the opportunity to rush in.

_ “Crap, she’s a close range user! Why wasn’t there any information on her ability!?”  _

**_“GAOOOOOOAHHH!!!”_ **

_ “She’s coming too fast! I won’t have time to dodge!” _

Nico braced herself to block with her stand as best she could.

“You’re done for!”   
  


Chika’s assault was halted as a glowing orange object was sent flying through the air in between the two girls. Chika stepped back and looked down at the object, now resting on the ground surrounded by a growing circle of fire.

_ “Is that...a blob of lava?” _ _   
  
_

A figure slowly emerged from a doorway near Nico, surrounded by an ominous aura.

“Looks like you’re going to be a real problem, aren’t you?”   
  
“Maki, what are you doing!?” Nico asked with a raised voice. “You were supposed to stay hidden at all times!”

“Well that plan doesn’t seem to be working out too well for you, now is it?” Maki shot back as she played with her hair. “You almost died. Your stand is way too fragile for close quarters combat, especially not against her.”   
  
Maki turned to face Chika, narrowing her eyes.

“I normally don’t use my stand, but not out of pity. I’ve been blessed-or perhaps cursed-with an extremely dangerous stand that even I fear. Perhaps, you would care to have a taste?”

A stand began to materialize beside Maki, mostly black in color but with red and orange stripes like flames along various parts of it. Its head was adorned with what looked like her hair, glowing bright orange with a similar color to its eyes. Each hand had a hole in the palm, bubbling up boiling liquid magma. Despite being in full contact with the stand, it seemed to have no effect on it. She swiped at Chika, splattering magma around as she did so. A stray drop touched Chika’s hair, causing it to ignite in a small flame.

“AGH!”

Chika's shout of shock gave Maki a slight grin. She quickly ran to the window, shattering the glass with  **Tangerine Dream** ’s fist. Putting her head into the pounding rain, the fire was put out quickly. Maki slowly approached her, illuminated eerily from behind by a wall of flames.

“If you so much as try to hurt my friends again,  **Night of Fire** will melt you where you stand.”

* * *

Mari descended the staircase, hopping off the last stair with a playful leap. She looked back over her shoulder as Yoshiko became visible once more.

“That was way too close...I guess I owe you one, Mari.”

“No problem!” She said in full English. “Now let’s get outta here while we still can.”

“Which way though? We’ve got a hallway on either side of us, and either could easily lead us right into the enemy users!”

“Did you not just see how we evaded the other users?  **Good Vibrations** has no limit to how long it can sustain its illusions. We’ll just cloak ourselves and sneak right on by!”

“I suppose. Just give me a sign if you’ve got a plan, ok?”

Mari’s stand swirled around her as she gave Yoshiko an ok sign. As they approached the hole in the wall, the intense glow of fire came into view around the corner. The two stopped and paused. Becoming visible briefly, Mari signaled to go back the other way before fading once again. The two dashed back down the hallway to try the side exit. As they passed by the stairway again however, a figure in the dark tackled Yoshiko. Unable to tell who was where in the moment, Mari made both of them visible again. To her surprise, both girls were Yoshiko.

“H-Hey! You’re that  **Def Leppard** girl!”

“Me!? You’re the enemy user! How else would you know it’s name?”

“You’re the one who told me it, you idiot!”

“Oh please! You’re closer to the stairway! It’s obviously you!”

“We both tumbled around on the floor, that logic doesn’t work!”

“How about I knock you out then? Deactivating your stand should reveal the truth.”

“That just proves you’re a fake!  **The Unforgiven** would knock you unconscious before you’d even have the chance.”

“ **The Unforgiven** would work the same for either of us, receiver or attacker. You can’t prove anything with it!”

Both girls growled and stared each other in the eyes. Mari sighed and stepped forward.

“Girls, girls, you’re making this way harder than it needs to be. I have a foolproof way of telling which one of you is the real Yoshiko. It’s you!”

Mari pointed at the Yoshiko on the left, much to the shock of the other one.

“W-Wha- Hey! I’m the real one! How’d you even pick that fast?”   
  
“None of your business, faker. Now go be a good girl and sit down by those stairs.”   
  
“You’re making a big mistake, she-”   
  
“Sit. Down.”

She reluctantly agreed, sitting down at the base of the stairs. 

“How’d you figure out I was the real me?” Yoshiko asked. 

“It’s a secret.~”

The two continued to walk down the hallway until they turned a corner.

“Hey! That’s Chika!” Mari gasped as she pointed at her running down the hall in pursuit by Nico and Maki. “You’re almost at the door. Hurry!”

Just as Mari neared the door, Yoshiko pulled a knife out of her sleeve and held it to Mari’s throat.

“You’re too naive! I bet that stunt was nothing more than a gamble back there. Well it’s going to cost you dearly!” 

“M-Mari!” Chika called out as she got just within range. “ **Tangerine Dream** !”

“You fool!” Nico yelled as she held up a massive bottle. “You’ve left yourself completely unguarded from behind!”

“Chika, defend yourself!” Mari called out desperately.

“”It’s too late!  **Dr. Feelgood** …”   
  
Her stand held the bottle near the fiery hand of Maki’s, igniting the rag in the top.

“...and  **Night of Fire** !”

**Dr. Feelgood** lobbed the bottle with immense force at Chika, exploding with enough force to send her flying backwards into the wall. At the sight of the fire illuminating Chika’s battered body, Nico smirked.

“Aw, having trouble now that you don’t have a numbers advantage? We all work better together than we do alone. Now that your leader’s a goner, it’ll be child’s play eliminating the rest of you!”

“You’ve caused us enough trouble too.” fake Yoshiko said as she held the knife closer to Mari’s throat. “I’m going to do the honors of killing you here and now so you don’t interfere with us any further.”

“You work together better as a group?” Mari said quietly with a smirk of her own. “I could say the same thing.”

“Huh? Are you stupid or-”

Fake Yoshiko was cut off as a fist punched her in the side of the head, knocking her away from Mari. The Chika against the wall faded, revealing a different Chika standing next to Mari with minimal damage to her. The fake scrambled away from Chika, stopping against a wall.

“T-That was a direct hit!” Nico shouted furiously. “You should be dead!”

Mari turned to the fake and grinned sinisterly.

“Still care to know how I knew the real one? It’s simple. I called her Yoshiko.”

“Y-Yohane!”

Everyone looked around in confusion as the voice shouted from seemingly nowhere.

“All I needed to see was who got an angry expression. I only chose you to fool you into believing you had my trust. As for the real Yoshiko, I gave her instructions I obscured from your vision.”

The light shimmered in front of them, the real Yoshiko becoming visible. She was standing, but had sustained a lot of damage.

“W-Wait…” Nico began in a trembling voice. “...if she was the one who took the damage from the explosion…”

Quickly lifting up her shirt, Nico revealed that several large indents were forming on her body. 

“...it was also reflected by  **The Unforgiven** .” Yoshiko finished for her.

Nico looked up and exchanged a look of horror with Maki. Only a short moment later, Nico’s body was blown apart from the center, killing her instantly. Her remains were scattered across the floor, leaving a horrid silence in the building. Maki stood, hands trembling and eyes practically bulging out of her head. She slowly brought her hands to her head while quietly breathing laboriously. Then she let out a blood curdling scream.  **Night of Fire** began to physically deform, its mouth tearing open at the edge of the mouth to reveal sharp pointed teeth. The back extended and creaked as it formed a more hunched bony shape. Lava and smoke began to drip out of the mouth like drool, letting out an inhuman growl. As Maki’s screams ended, she slowly let her trembling hands lower from her face. Her eyes showed nothing but utter insanity.

* * *

Stand User: Yoshiko Tsushima

Stand Name:  **The Unforgiven** ( **Act II** )

Stand Stats:

Strength - C | Speed - C | Range - D | Durability - D | Precision - C | Potential - D

Ability:

The Unforgiven Act II acts passively. If the user is harmed by another person, whoever caused the damage will receive that damage back triplefold. However, if The Unforgiven is used to attack a foe directly, the reverse effect will happen upon the user. Indirect attacks such as unrelated damage from the environment like scrapes or cuts do not activate The Unforgiven’s ability. 


	12. Night of Fire

Chapter 12: Night of Fire

The three girls stepped back slowly and cautiously as Maki stared them down with remorseless eyes. Her demented  **Night of Fire** began to growl and shamble towards them as magma dripped from its mouth like drool. Mari flashed a hidden signal to the other girls to make their way out the door. Even in the relative darkness, Chika could see the worry on her face. Mari quietly moved her hand to the door handle, slowly allowing her hand to grip it.

“Run!!!” Mari yelled, throwing the door open.

“You’re not going anywhere!” said the fake Yoshiko as she lunged again at Chika. Chika responded by quickly punching her in the head with Tangerine Dream’s fist.

“ **_GAOOO!_ ** ” 

Maki reacted with an enraged snarl. A pace behind the others, Chika noticed  **Night of Fire** ’s maw drip with lava as it seemed to be preparing an attack.

“Mari, Yoshiko, get down!”

The wall erupted in a cloud of burning ash and soot, hissing loudly as the rain hit the boiling rock.

“Chika, are you ok!?” Mari called out on the other side of the smoke. 

“I’m fine, don’t worry about me. You get to the boat, I’ll go around!” 

Chika stepped back, noticing Maki’s shadow illuminated by the sea of flames. She turned her head in the direction of the other two, but made no movements after them.

“Running away are you?” Maki said with a soft but menacing voice. “Go on and run away if you can. I don’t need to chase after you.”

She turned her head and grinned maliciously at Chika.

“I’d rather sink you into despair by taking the life of your leader.”

Chika backed up slowly as Maki slowly emerged and walked after her.  **Night of Fire** growled as smoke billowed from the sides of its mouth.

“I’ll turn you to ash!”

Chika barely made it inside as a powerful blast of superheated ash ran along the edge of the building, bursting in a few windows. The light of the flames was obscured as the thick grey clouds swirled inside. Even just standing near them, Chika could feel intense heat emitting from them.

_ “These clouds are way too dangerous. I need to steer clear of them at all costs!” _

Glancing down at her feet, she noticed the fake Yoshiko holding her head and groaning. As the ash began to near her, she began to cough painfully and quickly scrambled away.

“What the hell are you doing Maki!?” She yelled out. “You’re gonna kill me if you’re not careful!”

Maki was barely visible slowly walking past the open window, her eyes dead locked on Chika.

_ “She’s completely lost it...all that’s on her mind right now is murder. Her partner’s words aren’t even registering for her. I have to defeat her before she kills us all...but how? How am I supposed to get close to someone with that dangerous a stand!?” _

* * *

Yoshiko and Mari ran as fast as they could towards the boat. Dia was already watching them from afar with night vision mode.

“Mari! Yoshiko! What’s going on over there?” 

Mari called out some reply, but she couldn’t hear it over the noise of the rain.

“That smoke seems unnatural.  **Smooth Criminal** ! Show me the heat of that plume!”

Switching to thermal imaging mode, Dia’s eyes widened as the smoke gave off an intense color.

“T-This heat! That’s almost 700 degrees celsius! But that’s way too hot to just be ash.”   
  
She noticed there were hot patches of lava on the ground as the clouds began to subside. Looking at  **Night of Fire** from afar, she could see fresh magma drooling from its mouth.

_ “I read somewhere that after a volcanic eruption, the erupted gas and debris race will race down the sides of a mountain in what’s called a pyroclastic flow. Their heat and contents can suffocate a human within fractions of a second, and bury people in a cast of soot, much like at Pompeii. Whatever that horror of a stand is...it seems to be able to spew pyroclastic material at will. That’s way too dangerous! Can we even defeat a stand like that?” _

“Dia!” Mari yelled over the deafening downpour. “Maki’s gone berserk!”

“You two are lucky you got away from that thing.”

“Yeah. It’s called  **Night of Fire** . She can make lava pour out of its palms and she’s immune to fire completely. But...it changed form.”

“Are you certain? What changed about it?”

“Its body completely morphed into that monstrous shape. That ash blast looks like a new ability it gained with transformation too. It happened after we...killed Nico.”

Dia grit her teeth as her expression became pained.

“...I see.”

“She wasn’t the only one to change either,  **The Unforgiven** changed during the fight too.” Yoshiko demonstrated by summoning her new stand to her side. “It reciprocates damage too and from me. I was able to use it to defeat Nico, but I’m in pretty bad shape.”

“Get to the boat.” Dia commanded without hesitation. “As soon as Chika gets out of the building, we’re leaving.”

Dia gazed back towards Maki’s location, brow furrowed worriedly.

_ “Chika...please make it out alive.” _

* * *

Chika managed to dodge a blob of magma thrown her way, the wall next to her igniting almost instantaneously. Imposter Yoshiko yelped in fright and covered her head as the attack narrowly missed her. Maki didn’t so much as look at her, glaring with eyes locked on Chika. Chika wasted no time in making a mad dash down the hall towards the hole.

_ “If I can just get outside, I’ll have the space to evade her attacks. If I can just make it to the hole before Maki catches up…” _

Chika was forced to halt as a wall of flames stopped her path. She could see the hole down the hall out of reach just over the ever widening flames. 

_ “The fire’s spread this far already?” _

She looked over her shoulder to see Maki standing by the corner with her glare unchanged.

“Looks like I’ve finally caught you, Chika.” She said slow and menacingly. “I’d prefer to watch you slowly melt where you stand, but your  **Tangerine Dream** is far too dangerous for me to approach safely. So…”

**Night of Fire** emerged from behind her, growling and letting pyroclastic smoke bellow out of the side of its mouth. 

“...I will scorch you to death from a safe distance instead!”

“I won’t give you the chance!  **Tangerine Dream** !”

**Tangerine Dream** began to glow as it absorbed the energy from the flames behind her, turning towards the wall and assaulting them with a barrage of punches.

**_“GAGAGAGAGAGAHHHH!!!”_ **

The wall burst with wood and shrapnel exploding out onto the beach. Chika quickly ran outside before Maki could attack, running as fast as she could through the pouring rain. She looked over her shoulder, but didn’t see her give chase outside. 

_ “Yes! I got away! Now all I need to do is run around the perimeter and-” _

Her thoughts got interrupted as she noticed Maki chasing alongside her from inside the building. She was gaining ground quickly.

_ “No! The sand is slowing me down!” _

**Night of Fire** appeared beside Maki, smoke billowing out of its mouth as it prepared another attack. Chika reached the hole in the hole at the exact same time Maki did.

“You can’t run away from me!”

Thinking fast, Chika summoned her stand behind her.

“ **Tangerine Dream** ! Launch me forward!”

**_“GAOOOOO!!”_ **

The stand’s fist launched her forward, just barely avoiding the pyroclastic blast. Tumbling to the ground, she grunted in pain.

“T-That was close...I need to get out of here!”

Turning the corner to run down the side of the building, Chika glanced in the window to see  **Night of Fire** staring out at her menacing. It opened its maw and roared as it prepared another attack. 

_ “She’s relentless...I’ve barely moved anywhere and I’m barely dodging her attacks. How am I supposed to beat her?” _

She yelped as the wall burst open with the explosive power of  **Night of Fire** . As the debris settled, Maki stepped into the entranceway and looked out at the desolate rocky beach. Chika was nowhere to be seen. 

“Chika...” Maki growled slowly under her breath. “...I know you girls are cunning. I won’t stop until I’m certain of your death.”

A sadistic smile crept up her face.

“I will not stop until I see your scorched corpse for myself!”

**Night of Fire** growled as magma dripped from its hands. It bellowed like a wild animal as it splattered the melted rock in a wide radius around her. 

“This magma is hot enough to ignite your clothes or hair on impact. It can even melt your skin. Even the tiniest splatter will cause you immense pain, and when I hear you scream I’ll have you trapped. Not even the rain can stop them from burning anything they touch!”

She continued to splatter it over the rocks, the pouring rain drowning out the hissing of magma reacting to the chilling rain. Maki was grinning slightly as she anticipated a scream with every toss she made. Her grin started to fade however as no scream came. She quickly became agitated.

“Where the hell are you!?”

**Night of Fire** began firing off plumes angrily in no particular direction. The rocks became covered in ashes and soot as the air became choked with deadly gases and scorching debris. Maki stopped her stand to catch her breath, immune to the toxic environment her stand had made. 

“Damn you...where did you even disappear too?” 

Looking back over her shoulder, she watched part of the building where she had burst out of collapse in the untamed inferno.

“You have to be somewhere...your island is nothing but a desolate rock. Your only escape is-”

Maki stopped suddenly as an idea formed in her head. She started to laugh aloud in sadistic delight.

“Hey Chika, you think hiding from me will save you? If I’m going to die on this island, I’m bringing you all down with me. I’ll just go kill your friends instead!”

Maki leapt off the jagged rocks and onto the beach, laughing as she ran towards the boat.

“You all stand no chance against  **Night of Fire** . Victory is mine!”

The wall next to Maki exploded, the debris forcing her to block. Chika stood in front of the now open hole,  **Tangerine Dream** glowing from the fire close to her.

“You’re too blinded by rage to fight me, Maki. You didn’t even notice me double back towards the hole in the wall after you burst out next to me. I figured I should repay that favor.”

**Tangerine Dream** quickly started to barrage her with an onslaught of fists.

**_“GAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAHHHH!”_ **

Maki was launched into the rocks with immense force, managing to survive it at the cost of her left arm being completely shattered by the force of Chika’s assault. The impact itself also dislocated her shoulder which made her scream in pain.

“I barely managed to time that.” Chika admitted quietly to herself. “If I hadn’t lined up where Maki was with the approaching fire, I could’ve been as good as dead. I’ve got to take this chance to run.”

Chika panted as she sprinted towards the boat as fast as she could. She waved to the others as she appeared around the edge of the building.

“I’m over here!”

She could faintly hear Dia yell over the sound of the pouring rain. 

“I’m okay! Let’s get out of this place!” 

Some of the others started yelling frantically. Dia summoned  **Smooth Criminal** and pointed in her direction.

“Chika, behind you!” Dia’s shout finally registered with her.

Turning her head around, she saw Maki making a mad dash after her.

“W-What!?”

“I won’t let you get away from me!”

**Night of Fire** spat hot gasses onto the ground, hardening the sand into a more firm surface that gave her more speed. 

“You have nothing to energize you out in the rain let alone the energy to outrun me.”

Maki quickly began to close in with a clear shot at Chika.

“ **Night of Fire** is invincible! You’ll never make it, Chika Takami!”

Chika suddenly turned around and charged towards Maki, running with all her might straight at her.

“Chika, don’t!” Dia tried to caution. “You’re out of range!”

To everyone’s surprise,  **Tangerine Dream** began to glow. She kicked her foot into the sand and launched herself forward at blinding speeds. 

“Even if I’m not near anything that outputs energy, the energy I produce with my body is still energy. My own running causes my body to burn energy, releasing heat along with it. By absorbing that heat, I can use my own energy to power up my stand. This is  **Tangerine Dream** ’s second ability…”

A powerful fist punched  **Night of Fire** in the chest, causing it to cough out a bit of ash uselessly.

“... **Hyperborea** !!!”

Maki was launched with incredible force into the building, smashing right through the wall. The building gave way in the front, collapsing in a heap of wood and rubble.

Chika put her hands on her knees and panted heavily. Dia ran over to help her walk to the ship.

“You alright?”

“I-I’m fine. Just a bit tired.”

Dia lent a shoulder, helping the weakened Chika to her feet. A sudden yelp of fear drew their attention as the imposter Yoshiko held a knife to Hanamaru’s throat.

“None of you move or I’ll slit her throat!”

“H-Hanamaru-chan!” Ruby squealed in fright. “She snuck up on us while we were distracted by Maki!” 

“You’ll pay for killing Kayo-chin! Now get away from the boat if you want this girl to live.”

_ “Kayo...chin?” _ Hanamaru’s expression quickly lost all the fear in it. It was replaced by a sad pained look of realization.

“Now get to the boat, you’re getting me off this godforsaken rock.” 

Hanamaru didn’t move. In anger, the imposter moved the blade back to stab her, only to be stopped as Hanamaru caught it in her teeth. The blade softened and was slurped up quickly. 

“I thought it might be you. I had a feeling that you’d want revenge for Hanayo, but now I know for sure it’s you. You’re the only person in μ's, maybe even in general, that calls her by Kayo-chin. You’re one of the last people I wanted to fight, I really mean that. It’s because of you I gained the courage to be a school idol to begin with.”

Spitting out the knife, she placed the imposter’s hand to her mouth and slurped her inside. She walked over to the burning building and spat the girl out deep into the burning building beyond her sight.

“I wish it didn’t have to be this way, but I can’t let you hurt my friends, especially not Ruby-chan.”

With her back to the building, Hanamaru stared sadly at the ground as she walked away. 

“Please forgive me, Rin.”

* * *

Stand User: Maki Nishikino

Stand Name:  **Night of Fire** ( **Act I** & **Act II** )

Stand Stats ( **Act I** ):

Strength - C | Speed - C | Range - D | Durability - C | Precision - D | Potential - C

Stand Stats ( **Act II** ):

Strength - A | Speed - C | Range - C | Durability - B | Precision - D | Potential - C

Ability ( **Act I** ):

Melts anything it comes in contact with. Hands secrete molten magma that cannot harm the user. Range is about 5 Meters.

Ability ( **Act II** ):

Unleashed from a breaking of Maki’s emotional state. Spews pyroclastic clouds from its mouth. Clouds can easily suffocate victims with scorching ash and dust that kills instantly when under direct exposure. None of the stand’s clouds or magma can hurt Maki.

* * *

The injured imposter struggled to her feet, surrounded by a sea of flames. She clenched her fist, the sting of defeat infuriating her.

“Those bastards...I won’t let them get away with this.”

She punched the wall with her fist in anger.

“I’ll kill them all! I don’t care if I have to die to make it happen, I’ll kill them all myself!”

She was startled as a hand suddenly grabbed her shoulder hard from behind.

**_“Grrrroooooaaagggg…”_ **

Turning her head slowly, she gazed in horror at the ferocious glare of  **Night of Fire** .

“I’ve got you now, Yoshiko!”

“W-WAIT-”

Her plea was left unheard as a blast of pyroclastic clouds roasted her upper body, killing her instantly. Falling dead to the ground, her body was covered in a rocky coating like plaster. Maki took a step back and began to laugh maniacally. 

“ **The Unforgiven** can’t save you if you’re dead! Your stand was completely useless against me! Now all I need to do is to kill your friends-”

She stopped as a strange blue light caught her eye. The line traveled down the length of the corpse, causing the soot to crack as it traveled down to the body’s feet.

“T-That light...” 

Flipping over the body, the long hair in the back cracked off. Right at the base of the hair was burnt but recognizable hair. Orange hair. Maki’s eyes widened in horror as she realized what she had done. She fell to the floor with her hands on the side of her head shaking. She screamed with wails of anguish, drowned out by the thunderous roar of the thundering rain and raging inferno around her. The gambit had failed.

* * *

Stand User: Rin Hoshizora

Stand Name:  **Def Leppard**

Stand Stats:

Strength - D | Speed - C | Range - C | Durability - D | Precision - A | Potential - B

Ability:

Rin can morph herself into any person she wishes as long as she’s seen them once before. The stand creates a perfect replica in voice and body that not even a stand can differentiate. 


	13. Julia Dream

Chapter 13: Julia Dream

“Damn it!” Eli yelled as she punched the wall of the ship. “What were they thinking; taking a life raft in this kind of storm?”

“Eli-chi, they’re blinded by grief.” Nozomi put a hand on her shoulder to console her. “With Maki’s powerful stand, they might just pull through.”

“You can’t underestimate them, Nozomi. That mistake cost both Kotori and Hanayo their lives.” She grit her teeth and lowered her head. “I don’t want to lose any more of my friends.”

“Eli-chi…”

The metallic thumping of footsteps approached them, Umi ascending a staircase nearby. Her pace was frantic, and she took a moment to catch her breath when she reached the top.

“Rin’s gone too. I double checked all the cabins.”

Eli looked up at the pouring rain, immense worry visible in her expression.

“Should I go after them?” Umi suggested.

“Are you able to make it through the storm?”

Umi paused for a moment, not entirely sure herself.

“I can keep the ship in the same location. You get to the island as fast as you can.”

“And if a fight’s broken out?”

Eli put her hands on Umi’s shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes.

“Promise me you won’t do anything reckless.”

“I’ll exercise the utmost caution. Besides…”

Umi stepped away, hardening her gaze.

“...I’ve already killed one of them before.”

Umi leapt up into the pouring rain, vanishing into the darkness of the storm. 

“Elichi, let’s get back inside. You don’t wanna catch a cold.”

“Good idea.”

Nozomi followed slowly behind her in silence.

_ “I’m just as worried as you are.” _ Nozomi thought to herself.  _ “No matter what happens, I won’t let anyone hurt you. Not anyone.” _

They returned to the captain’s room, squeezing the rain out of their hair on their way in.

“We really should’ve grabbed our raincoats before we left, shouldn’t we?”

“Those three must be soaking wet out there. If they’re alive, they’ll be lucky not to have hypothermia.” 

“But Elichi, wouldn’t Maki’s  **Night of Fire** be like a natural heater?”

“Nozomi, that thing creates magma. It’s not a space heater.”

“Aw, let me have some fun with speculation.”

“What the hell about this is fun!?” Eli snapped. 

Nozomi jolted a bit in reaction.

“I just wanted to lighten the mood a bit.”

“No, you didn’t do anything wrong. I’m sorry.”

The cabin fell into awkward silence, drowned in a sea of heavy rain singing a thunderous chorus as it hit the steel deck.

* * *

Nozomi held her hand out of the doorway, only a few stray droplets landing on her outstretched palm. 

“Hey, the rain’s calmed down. Do you think the others are fine?”

“Who knows. It’s been only about a half hour since Umi left.”

“Staring at your watch isn’t going to change anything. Why don’t you come out onto the deck for a bit to clear your head? Sulking isn’t going to make you feel any better.”

“Just for a little while.”

Eli got up with a stretch, following Nozomi over towards the edge of the ship. She rested her arms on the railing and took a deep breath.

“Looks like the moon is starting to come out from behind the clouds.”

“It’s quite pretty. Almost as pretty as you, Elichi~.”

“What are you saying weird things like that for?”

“Hey, I really mean it. You are quite beautiful.”

“S-Shut up.” Eli mumbled, looking away with a blush.

As her eyes scanned around, she noticed something bobbling in the water. She kept her eyes on it as she nudged Nozomi with her shoulder.

“Hey, do you see that?”

“It looks like a boat. Do you think it’s the girls from the island?”

“No, that boat is way smaller than the one they have. I don’t see any passengers either.”

“Elichi, do you think there’s a stand user onboard?”

“It’s quite possible. Do you see the way it’s floating? The vessel is moving sideways, so it’s not moving by motor. It’s only drifting along.”

“Isn’t it drifting towards us?”

“It looks to be, yes. I can’t tell if that’s on purpose or not, but it’s too dangerous for either one of us to approach.”

“At this rate it’ll smash into the side of our ship. What should we do?”

“We need to find out what the deal with that boat is, and do it from a safe distance. Luckily, my stand is perfect for this job.”

Eli’s head began to bulge, or at least it appeared too. More hair was attached to that bulge, as was another eye, and soon an entirely new face formed. At the same time, another arm began to grow out of her own, a yellow glowing line coming from where it connected with the body. Soon, the parts began to emerge as a connected figure, standing alone as a completely identical copy.

“A new Elichi!?”

“ **Seven Nation Army** ! Swim over to that ship!”

Without hesitation, the copy leapt off the side of the ship and down into the water below. It quickly began to swim as best it could towards the approaching vessel.

“Your stand is swimming pretty far, is that a remote stand?”

“Yes and no. My  **Seven Nation Army** consists of 6 clones, each able to act independently at once. They don’t get fatigued or bothered by the environment unless their bodies are physically destroyed. I can also return them at any time and won’t take any damage they receive. However, because of the endless range of my stand, physical and cognitive abilities seem to decrease dramatically if they’re too far away from me. Thankfully, the distance between me and that boat should be close enough to have little to no effect.”

“Wow, multiple copies of you huh? Sounds exciting~.”

“We’re in the middle of an important investigation and you’re flirting? What am I going to do with you Nozomi?”

Eli suddenly tensed up looking out at the boat.

“Something wrong?” Nozomi wondered aloud.

“My stand...I’ve lost connection with it. It’s never done that before.”

“Look, over by the boat!”

The vessel had moved a lot closer, and next to the side of the vessel was her clone, limp in the water.

“Stands don’t die, she must have been knocked unconscious somehow. I’ll try again with another clone.”

Another clone stepped out of her body before leaping off the edge towards the water below. As the stand swam towards the boat, it too lost connection with Eli and remained unconscious in the water. Taking a few steps back, Eli folded her arms and took a second to think. 

_ “My stand normally wouldn’t just suddenly lose connection. The bodies themselves seem to be merely unconscious and don’t appear to have any sort of damage.” _

Eli allowed the first copy to dissipate and return to her, shattering and dissolving into the air.

“It returned to me like normal. I don’t know if it’ll affect our ship but it can’t seem to do more than incapacitate my stand.”

“Elichi, the boat is about to hit us!”

“Oh really?” Eli grinned smugly as her aura flared to life. Another clone leapt from her body and threw itself over the guardrail.

“I’ll just hit the boat first!”

The clone smashed into the roof of the boat with a loud crash, shattering from the force of the impact. A girl’s startled scream rang out from the ship below. 

“Direct hit!” Nozomi pumped her fist in the air enthusiastically.

Eli suddenly re-established connection with her stand. She silently commanded it to examine the ship.

_ “My  _ **_Seven Nation Army_ ** _ allows me to make bold, daring and overwhelming attacks far out of enemy range. In a life or death situation, I will not let even the slightest advantage go to waste. Even the strongest of stands will be harmed by the strength of numbers alone. No matter what, my stand will always give me the advantage.” _

Her clone began to climb onboard the smaller vessel, awkwardly fumbling up and over the bow. She stood up to find a mostly vacant ship except for one very terrified girl trembling in the small 3-walled cabin. 

“You there. Reveal your stand and surrender now. If you do, we won’t hurt you.”

“Y-You’re one of those people with the evil powers, aren’t you?”

“Speak for yourself. What’s someone doing adrift in a small boat in the middle of the ocean?”

“I could ask you the same question. In fact, you’re far more suspicious. You’re no sailor, yet you’re on some massive freighter.”

“I don’t think you’re in the place to be asking questions. We know you’re a stand user.”

“Stand? Is that your name for those powers?”

“I’m not the one who came up with it. All I know is this: they’re the manifestation of someone’s life force, and you’re the user of one too.”

“Quit accusing me of having one, I’m no monster.”

“I witnessed more than enough strange activity from your boat as it approached. There’s no below deck and you’re the only passenger, so that leaves only you as a possible user. If you’re not lying to me, you must simply be unaware of your stand’s powers.”

The girl was visibly bothered by the accusation, but seemed to drop her guard a bit.

“If you take me back to the mainland, I’ll promise not to hurt anyone. Hurting any of you would be disadvantageous for me anyway. Is that enough reason for some kind of mutual trust?”

“Just one more thing I’d like to ask you. That’s a school uniform you’re wearing, but not a uniform I am familiar with. Would you mind telling me your name and school?”

The girl hesitated again, but eventually stood up and responded clearly.

“I’m from the Nijigasaki Girls High School. My name is Kanata.”

“Kanata, eh? Please follow me up to the deck of the ship.”

The clone shouted up towards Nozomi.

“Lower the ramp! We’re letting her onboard.”

The ramp lowered itself down slowly, rattling with a metallic whine. The real Eli walked briskly towards the cabin, silently signaling Nozomi with a finger to her mouth. Nozomi nodded, standing still as she patiently let the two make their way up. Clone Eli kept a wary eye over her shoulder.

_ “This Kanata person doesn’t seem to fully trust us, not that I can blame her. It’s a stretch, but we might be able to get her to help us somehow.” _

As Kanata walked on deck, Nozomi approached her casually. 

“If it helps you feel any better, we fully believe you have a stand and a strong one at that. We wouldn’t want to make an enemy of you, especially not in the middle of the ocean like this.”   
  
She extended a hand as a gesture.

“Allies?”

“I’m not your ally.”

After a brief moment of silence, she extended her hand and shook.

“Consider us...acquaintances.”

“There’s some benches inside the cabin.” Nozomi pointed at the doorway inside. “Let’s sit down and get to know each other a bit.”

“Actually, do you mind if I rest a bit first? I haven’t been sleeping well ever since...you know.”

“Is that ok with you, Elichi? Letting a stranger rest on our boat?”

“If she’s asleep, she’s no threat to us. Keep an eye on her while she rests though. We still don’t know what her stand’s full potential is.”

“I really don’t think I have one.” Kanata insisted. “Still, if you’re going to help me get back to shore safely, I’ll refrain from trying to harm you.”

Eli headed in first, allowing her clone to return to her body out of sight. When Kanata entered, the original Eli stood before her, completely indistinguishable. Laying down on the bench, she groaned a bit to herself, getting comfortable. Nozomi stood at the end of the bench, keeping watch of her. Eli stood on the far side of the room near the radar, watching the smaller boat drift away slowly with the waves. 

_ “That boat must’ve run out of fuel and left adrift. I guess we weren’t the only ones with the idea to take a boat and flee. Still, she wanted to return to the mainland. Getting on this boat must’ve been her only hope, even if it was a risk. I wonder, how many desperate survivors are out there?” _

She jolted back to attention as Nozomi suddenly gasped in shock. A heaviness had come over her, her legs quaking as she struggled to stand up.

“W-What’s…”

Nozomi barely managed to mumble out that one word, her consciousness fading rapidly. Eli watched a small orange stand slowly glide over to Nozomi’s shoulder, glittering and glowing like some kind of bioluminescent mushroom. It was barely the size of her palm and appeared to be covered in some form of drapery. It gently clung to the fabric of her shirt and whispered softly.

**_“Gooooo toooooo sleeeeeep~.”_ **

Nozomi fell with a thud to the floor, completely unconscious

“Nozomi!!!”

Eli angrily let her aura flare up.

_ “You really think you can claim not to have a stand and get away with attacking us? You’re going to pay dearly for that!” _

The stand on Nozomi’s shoulder slowly pet the twintail close to it with its tiny hands. Eli’s clone grabbed a pen and clicked it, rushing towards them. Just a few steps in, the stand manifested on the shoulder of the clone and whispered again.

**_“Goooooo tooooooo sleeeeeep~.”_ **

Before the clone could fall over, Eli released another with a fist reeled back.

“Take this!”

The fist hit the tiny stand head on, also shattering the neck of the first clone into a bunch of yellow crystalline shards. The damage kept going, shattering the neck and causing the body to fall apart into a mess of crystal. Eli watched them dissolve as they returned to her. The stand remained over by Nozomi, completely unphased. Letting the clone continue to walk forward, it too became attacked at the same distance.

“I see, now I understand everything. It’s an automatic stand that puts people to sleep. If her range was much wider, I could’ve fallen victim to it. She only started attacking moments after she fell asleep...that must be connected somehow. If it’s sleep that causes it…”

Eli grabbed a fire extinguisher off the wall and held it in her hand, allowing two sets of hands to emerge and also grasp it.

“...Then I’ll just have to wake her up!”

With the combined force of three arms’ throwing power, she hurled the extinguisher at the metal wall, creating a loud bang. The sound startled Kanata awake, followed shortly by Nozomi. She looked up at Eli in irritated confusion.

“What in the world are you doing!?”

“I figured out your stand’s ability. When you fall asleep, others around you also fall asleep within a limited radius. That’s why Nozomi fell asleep moments after you passed out. I’d suggest you also name your stand to refer to it more easily.”

Kanata stayed silent, quietly observing the area around her. Looking up at Eli, her look hardened.

“Tell me...why are there two of you?”

_ “Shit.” _

“You have those stand things too, don’t you?” Her tone became angrier and accusatory. “Is that why you took me onboard, to use my stand to help you kill?”

“N-No, I-”

“I can tell you’re lying from your reaction. Do you really think I’d work with a bunch of murderers? My precious Haruka was killed at the hands of other stands. I was forced to steal a boat and flee to the ocean just to stay alive.”

She quickly got up and got Nozomi in a chokehold, pulling a pen out of her pocket.

“Nozomi!!!”

“You’re going to watch your friend die, just like I had to watch my sister die. To hell with both of you!”

She prepared to drive the pen into Nozomi’s exposed neck. Before she could complete the stab however, her arm froze in place and refused to move.

“M-My arm! It won’t move!”

Kanata’s body acted against her will, letting Nozomi free. Nozomi casually stepped back with a smug grin, eyes locked on Kanata. 

“I’m afraid you made a mistake the moment you touched me. You almost got free by knocking me unconscious too.”

“You mean this is-”

“It’s quite simple. Once I’ve touched you,  **Tarot Woman** has full control over your body. You’re going to help us, regardless of whether you want to not.”

Kanata was forced to walk towards a container on the wall and open it up. Her eyes widened in fear when she looked inside.

“Is this...emergency medical supplies!?”

“Don’t worry, your stand would be a waste to not use to its full effect. We’re not going to kill you.”

Kanata watched helplessly as she picked an injection needle out of the case.

“We’re just going to give you an anesthetic.”

* * *

Stand User: Kanata Konoe

Stand Name:  **Julia Dream**

Stand Stats:

Strength - E | Speed - A | Range - B | Durability - E | Precision - A | Potential - D

Ability:

When the user is asleep, everyone within a 20 meter radius will also fall into a deep slumber. They are unable to wake up until they either leave the stand’s range or the user is woken up. This stand is passive and cannot be controlled by the user.


End file.
